Times Of Retrospect
by potterfowlboy
Summary: Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl meet. Should I say more? Check it out!
1. Prologue

Prologue

Harry looked at the photo. It was dusty and old. Dusty and old. He remembered the old times. Oh, man, those were the days. When he and Artemis Fowl met. They became as thick as brothers.

Artemis Fowl II walked down the stairs. "Hey , I remember that photo! It was taken in Diagon Alley right?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "Do you remember that day we met?"

"Do I ever. Oh yeah, Mr Potter, that was the best day in my life!"

"Where is Illaria anyway?" he inquired.

"Illaria's sleeping," he replied. Illaria was his wife. Harry hadn't bothered to get married. Too much trouble.

"I can still remember that day…."


	2. Runaway Harry

Chapter 1-Runaway Harry

It had been years since Harry had such a headache. He was feeling terrible. Ever since the Dursleys had moved to Ireland he had felt terrible. It was not that he did not like Ireland, the only problem was that he could not make it to Hogwarts from there, precisely why the Dursleys were in such a good mood. He was really tired of hearing sneers from Dudley.

He went down to breakfast to see that the Dursleys were already there. He walked past them and made his own bacon and cheese sandwich which was one of his staple foods.

" Well, young Harry, isn't it a nice day? Not too cold, alright," Uncle Vernon muttered.

Dudley sniggered. " Any _owls_ today?" Dudley snorted. "What happened to your _friends?_"

Harry had had enough. He stormed up to his room and took his belongings and some Muggle money that he had managed to nick from Uncle Vernon when the beefy-necked man had accidentally got his foot run over by Dudley while mowing the lawn. He hid his wand in his shirt pocket and opened the door.

" I've had enough, I'm going to Hogwarts myself." Harry moved out quickly in case Uncle Vernon found his neck to play with.

Uncle Vernon did nothing to stop him. Why? He anyway does not have any family, he'll come running home to Papa when he realises that, he reasoned.

That was not exactly what happened.

Harry hailed a cab and told the driver to head to the east of Ireland. From there he could take a flight to King's Cross in London. That was the original plan, anyway. But, when the meter reached a particular level, which Harry calculated , then there would be enough to reach King's Cross. Till then he would have to hitch a ride.

Slowly the meter rose to the desired point. Finally, he stopped the cab and got out on the middle of the road and realized that, he had no more money. He overestimated.

After getting out, he could only see a big manor in the distance and a long road ahead.

He headed to the manor, in the hope for some food.

Artemis was in a bad mood. Juliet had interrupted with French fries when he was meditating in the position Butler taught to him. French fries was something he had taken a liking to, ever since he had started being an innocent 17 year old kid. 4 years since the mind wipes, though he didn't know it.

Father saw Artemis in his meditating position. He knew better not to interrupt. He walked slowly to his wife's room. He still wasn't used to his prosthetic leg. Helsinki was where they had done the operation.

Artemis suddenly felt a flash in his head. He opened his mouth in shock as images flashed through his mind. Weird images that he had never encountered in his life. But one image remained in his mind. A panel and a great pool of magma rushing up to the screen. At least, that's what he saw. He turned to look at Butler and tell him about this phenomenon.

"Butler?" he enquired? "Are you there?"

The bodyguard didn't answer. Maybe he wouldn't, maybe he couldn't .

Butler was missing.

Harry dragged himself to the last of the steps leading up to the door of the house. He knocked on the door. Or at least tried to. But at the same time the door opened, as if someone had been expecting him. He fell face first into the ground. Unconsciousness was immediate.

Artemis was shocked. Here he was looking desperately for Butler and now comes a boy who literally falls at his feet. It wasn't that Artemis was a bad person, he just didn't have the time for it now. However, he called his father and they both hoisted Harry up to the spare room they had.

Mulch Diggums was still in prison. The gold disc that Artemis had given him was still with him but the condition had deteriorated after 4 years. He wanted to get out of prison.

The cell door opened and a gnome lawyer walked in. He said,' Mulch, you are now going to be free again.'

Mulch looked up at the gnome, not daring to believe it.

'True? Really? Excellent.' The dwarf's toes wriggled with joy.

All that Mulch knew that all those times Artemis had saved him, the debt was about to be repaid.

Harry awoke with an even bigger splitting headache. He held his soft and fluffy quilt and thought, Where am I? As if to answer his question, Artemis chose that moment to walk in.

"Hello," he said pleasantly.

Harry put his hand near his wand.

"No need to be afraid. I rescued you. You were unconscious at the doorsteps of my manor." Artemis fidgeted with his fingers.

Harry slowly let his hand move away from the wand. Artemis sighed.

"2 days and I still can't find Butler. What am I going to do?"

Harry slowly looked up. This boy had saved his life. Now he was worried about somebody. Somebody important, he surmised. The thought that he had saved his life was enough for Harry to think about repaying this boy for his help. Harry took a decision.

"Do you need help to find this _Butler?_"

Mulch's eyes adjusted to the moonlight. Police Plaza was well lit even now. Somewhere in the dead of the night.

Holly Short was just reporting to work. She saw Mulch and smiled painfully.

"Well, Mulch, nice day isn't it ? Good thing you made it out of prison. Thought I'd _miss_ you."

The sarcasm stung to Mulch as it was quite a shooting offence.

"What's the matter, Captain Short? Doughnut bars all closed?"

"Nope, still some open."

Mulch sighed. He didn't want to waste time with this elf. He really needed to get Artemis's memory back. Total recall.

Holly didn't sense it, but something told her that Mulch was on a mission.

"What are you up to now, Mulch?"

"Can't tell you."

"Come on, Mulch, tell me."

He just stopped himself in time. He ran away, leaving Captain Short alone in the street.

"CAPTAIN SHORT!" Root's voice echoed.

"Damn and blast!" Holly jogged up to the office.


	3. Total Recall

Chapter 2-Total Recall

Butler woke up to find himself tied to a chair. He knew he could have easily gotten away from the chair, but he was tied to it ever so tightly. There was also an opposing force which hindered his movement.

"The Muggle is here, M'Lord."

A cold, thin voice followed, sounding worse then Artemis's when he was in 'EVIL' form.

"Very good. Let us see if he can answer some of our questions."

A robed figure walked, or _glided_, into the room followed by a small hunched figure. The figure's face rose up to meet his eyes. Butler had seen many scary things, but these were one of the things never to forget.

The red slits through which _it_ saw through were really creepy. Even for Butler.

"Well, Muggle, answer my questions and you will escape from here easily."

The figure whipped out something long. Long and sinister. It was like one of those toy _wands_ you could find in the shops. Butler blinked. _Wands?_

"I don't know what you are calling me and I don't care about your silly questions. You don't look scary to me. I've seen much more than you."

"I suppose you don't want to answer my question? Well, let me pose it to you before I show you what happens to those who defy Lord Voldemort."

"Who is Artemis Fowl?"

Screams followed.

Mulch was in the shuttle bay with the gnome. He was a reprobate too, and he ran stolen LEP pods and shuttles to the surface. The best thing was that, Foaly, the centaur, could not track it as it was coated with several layers of lead.

"Hey Lempo, is it ready yet? I don't want to keep Artemis waiting."

Lempo flicked a switch. "It is now."

Mulch hopped in. " Lempo, I owe you one. Thanks," he said, starting up the shuttle. Luckily there were no magma flares or Mulch would have been more roasted than a duck lying on fire for 2 hours.

As the shuttle disappeared out of sight, Lempo, from Italian origin, sighed. " Righta Mulcha, you owe me a one."

Harry looked at the projector screen from the bed. He saw a massive head. Butler. Domovoi Butler.

Artemis turned off the machine. He then turned to talk to Harry.

"Well, Harry, I think I have provided you with enough information to help me find Butler. Can you? Please?"

Harry looked at him wide-eyed. " I promised to help you right? Now _I ain't backin' out._"

They left the house after lunch. Or rather, tried to. However a grotesque figure blocked their path.

Artemis had this rush of memories. He somehow knew the creature was Mulch Diggums. Somehow.

"Mulch Diggums, right? I don't know how I know your name."

"Artemis Fowl, right? I know you. And who is this friend of yours here?"

"Harry Potter."

"Right. Artemis, take me in as I have to show you something."

Artemis did not know why he was doing it, but he instinctively took the dwarf in.

They fired up the hard drive at the house, or manor. Mulch removed the gold minidisk.

"The drive will spoil if you put that in. Don't do that." Artemis warned Mulch.

"You think so?" Mulch replied, and put the disc in.

Butler hung his head limply from the chair. He never had remembered real pain before. This was excruciating.

"Well, have I showed you the extent of my power, you useless Muggle? Answer my question. Who is Artemis Fowl?"

"I cannot tell you. I do not know him."

"Do not lie to Lord Voldemort. I know a lie when I hear one."

Butler sighed. Be it that whatever _Lord Voldemort_ did to him, he was not going to reveal his Principal.

The disc loaded quickly and soon files opened up. Artemis had a whole look at them and he suddenly jumped.

Flashes of images passed through his mind and he recognized the one he had seen before. In the shuttle, in the Artic, rescuing his father.

"Captain Holly Short. Trouble Kelp. Root. Luc Carrere. I remember."

Mulch had never seen someone who had total recall. He wasn't at all a bit surprised.

" Well, little Artemis, can you be happy now?"

" What thethis is wonderful. Fabulous. I now can remember fond memories of everyone. "

"Good. Now I'd better go."

" Not yet, Mulch. I need help. Butler."

Something in the human's voice stayed Mulch's hand.

"Butler?"

Holly was really irritated. As usual, due to _public reasons, _she was late for work. Root wouldn't like it at all.

She lumbered up to Root's office, where the fairy was busy bringing up files on the computer. "Ahem," she coughed _purposely_ to let Root know she was there.

Root looked up. "Aaah, Captain Short, just the fairy I wanted to see. I need to show you something."

Holly stared into the chili-complexioned Root. Root turned his computer around.

"What do you make of this?" he demanded.

Holly looked into the screen. The tunnel's internal camera had caught a picture of a familiar creature. A dwarf. Mulch.

"Mulch in a shuttle. Oh gods. This is terrible. How is the world going to react if Mulch goes aboveground?"

Root looked like a piece of skin soaked in blood. " You jest, Captain. I happen to know that you met Mulch before you came to office a day ago. What did Mulch tell you?"

Holly was surprised. " Honestly, Sir, I don't know anything about Mulch doing this. He ran off before I could question him."

Root's face looked redder than ever. " Your fault, Captain. Now this _Mulch, my favourite reprobate, _is going to cause " His abrupt pause was caused by a beeping from his computer. Foaly was calling.

Root shuffled. If there was anything Holly had to do to get Mulch, she'd better.

Butler opened his eyes to find himself in Fowl Manor. He saw Artemis coming down the stairs. He ran and embraced Artemis. He had been so worried about him.

This was Butler's dreamworld, which Voldemort had created. Meanwhile, Voldemort was plotting with Wormtail by his side.

"M'Lord, how did you know that Harry was at Artemis Fowl's house?"

Voldemort chuckled derisively. " Do you remember in the fifth year of Harry? That old fool Dumbledore had realised that I could see everything from the eyes of Harry due to his scar which had forged a connection between us and told Potter that only if he was at home I could not see through his eyes and could not harm him?"

Wormtail coiled. " So all you did…."

"Yes, I did it. I saw him go to Fowl Manor. Through my powers, I saw that Artemis adored Butler a lot. Therefore I kidnapped him."

Wormtail was intrigued. Plotting dastardly acts was not his area.

Mulch looked slowly at the morning sky. Lucky there was sunblock on him, or he'd have been a fried dwarf by now.

Artemis cut in. "Stop admiring the sky, Mulch. We all know that it must be kind of new to you."

Harry was feeling a bit left out. " Here is a race I did not even know about. Harry, how thick can you get?"

Artemis turned around. "Don't worry, Harry, you'll learn soon enough. I was a bit of a nobody this time 6 years ago. Ignorant."

Harry saw his trunk lying by the house door. He opened it up. In lay his Firebolt.

Artemis was surprised. "So, Harry, astound me."

Harry started to explain. "Well, this is a broomstick. To fly. There is a game in the wizarding world, called Quidditch. In this game there is a ball called the Quaffle, which the Chasers use to score with against the other team's Keeper, the Bludgers which try to knock people off their brooms and are made to change direction by the Beaters hitting them. Finally there is the Snitch. The ball, by being caught by the respective team's Seeker, earns the respective team a hundred and fifty points."

Mulch, who had been listening intently, replied, " Let me guess. You are your team's Seeker."

"Dead on. I just want to try my broom."

Artemis looked behind the house. "See that big paddock there? Go on, let me see what you can do with a broom other than sweep."

Harry obliged. After all, this was his area.

Flying through the air swiftly was not what Harry intended to do. In fact, he really wanted to search for the West Of Ireland airport. He intended to go to The Burrow and catch up with Ron. He had understood, from previous owls, that Hermione had gone there too for the holidays, her parents on a private holiday in Germany.

Skimming the surroundings at about 50 feet, he could faintly see some aeroplanes taking off in the eastern direction. That meant that his back was facing west.

Artemis saw Harry in the air. He was completely taken aback. Mulch had resorted to pulling up some weeds on the ground and watch Harry circle around them. He, too was rather inquisitive.

" Hmm….Broomsticks. What an invention. And even Harry is going at a whopping speed. What money I could make." Artemis contemplated.

"Don't even think about it, Mud Boy. Threatening one civilization is more than enough. Butler….Well, he joined in with you too, remember?"

Artemis suddenly had this gut feeling that something was approaching Harry at an alarming rate. He shouted into the air.

"Harry! Harry! HARRY!"

Harry heard the faint yells from below. He swooped down. Just in time to avoid a Muggle Tiger Moth, the tiniest aeroplane.

Harry nearly fell off his Firebolt. He had nearly broken the law. What a close shave.

Close shaves…well….he was used to them.


	4. From Ireland To The Burrow

Chapter 3- From Ireland To The Burrow 

Harry came down from the sky. That was the second time Artemis had saved his life. He had to do something.

He slowly lowered the Firebolt and finally, touched ground. He got off, brushing off the plane's dust, planning to thank Artemis for the alert.

Then the weirdest thing happened.

Butler lay limp on the chair again. " Do you know, _Butler_, that in Muggle movies there will always be a hero rushing in the end?" Voldemort sniggered.

Butler supposed Muggles meant people like him. Something like an alternative for "Mud Man".

"Butler, do you think there will be a hero in the end?"

Butler could not answer because pain was engulfing him.

Agitated, Voldemort performed "Crucio" on Butler before he had the idea.

Harry woke up. " Do you know, _Butler_, that in Muggle movies there will always be a hero rushing in the end?" he was saying, without being able to control it. "Butler, do you think there will be a hero in the end?" Still he could not control his mouth. "Crucio," said his mouth, and immediately Butler launched into screams of pain. Butler. That rang a bell. Artemis was looking for him!

Slowly….the cell faded and then he landed back in Artemis's paddock.

"Harry, Harry, what happened?" Mulch was leaning over him.

"What?"

"You were clutching your forehead……I see it….. you were clutching your scar….Harry are you okay?"

Slowly…Harry understood. Then he said, "Butler is in deep trouble. He has been captured by Lord Voldemort."

Artemis stared. " Lord Who?"

But now Mulch was starting to act weird.

Foaly had just managed to track Mulch down. He thought, oh no, as the tracker led him to Fowl Manor. Total recall.

Each prisoner is implanted with some cells in Police Plaza. These cells help to track him down when he escapes, an unlikely event. Mulch still had them activated.

Foaly also had taken the liberty of implanting an ear chip over Mulch's left earlobe. Lucky, as it happened.

He connected, and then said," Mulch, can you hear me?"

Mulch slowly rubbed his left ear. He wasn't hearing right.

"Mulch, can you hear me?"

That voice was oddly familiar.

"Mulch, this is Foaly."

Aha. There it was. That troublesome centaur.

Harry and Artemis stared at Mulch.  
Something extremely weird was going on.

"Mulch, say something. I have a chip implanted."  
"Testing, testing. She sells sea-shells on the sea shore. Trolls in a tunnel cause terrible trouble."

"Gotcha."

Mulch whispered to Harry and Artemis," It's Foaly. The stupid _eejit_ tracked me down. Now I will have to tell him all about your recall, Artemis. Uh-oh."

Although Harry found most of this Greek to him, Artemis realized the seriousness of the situation. If they mind-wiped him again, he was cocksure he would never find the Fairy World, or Haven, ever again.

"Mulch, I want you belowground ASAP. I happen to know that you have a stolen LEP shuttle, so come in that. And bring your cronies."

Mulch was not accustomed to this language. However, he glossed it over.  
Harry, however, was not impressed. He wanted to see Ron badly, for one thing, and he also wanted to see Dumbledore. 

"Artemis, we have no time to go below_ground_, due to Mulch. There _is no time. Butler is in deep trouble, and trust me, he will not come back if we do not save him._"

"Really? Since when?" said Artemis, looking behind Harry.  
Harry wheeled around, and was shocked at what he saw.

Holly was on the way to Police Plaza after lunch. She decided to drop by the Operations Booth and see an old friend.

"How's it going, Foaly?" she inquired.  
"Not bad. I managed to track Diggums down,and I _think_ he is coming now."  
Think? What did Foaly mean?

Root stormed into the Booth." What's your status, civilian?"  
Foaly just felt like saying," Oh,shut up about civilians, Julius, and be civil, you really make me p-" but was saved the trouble of it due to a beeping of his computer.

"Bang on, Julius. We have a problem. Mulch is contemplating whether to come belowground. He keeps talking about a certain Harry."

It just so happened that the word "Potter" turned up.

The tapping of keyboard keys was heard, and the next second, Foaly's computer had brought up the statistics.

"Hmm….Harry Potter. Hardened hooligan. Attended St Brutus's School For Incurably Criminal Boys. Living in Ireland right now. Erlet me see….address…..hmm….ah, gotcha, Hybarring Aveneue, 15th Cross, Number 23."

"But if he was talking to Diggums he wasn't at home, you nitwit."  
Foaly gritted his teeth. Root was soon going to make him do something he never wished he would.

"I thought that you would be grateful for some extra information."

"Who gives a damn whether Harry Potter comes down here, just a mind wipe is enough for him to be blank-minded, if you get my drift."

"Not really. This Harry Potter is a serious character. I caught words like "magic" and "Butler"."

"You fat donkey, he's at Artemis's place, what did you expect?" But now, Foaly had reached the end of his tether.He took Root's hand and put it dangerously near the screen.

"Don't make me too angry, Julius. I am angry enough due to your snide comments. Don't make me angry. I'm warning you."

Root was now worried. For one thing, that screen, when touched, could fry his hand, and for another, he had never seen Foaly so angry. Usually it was the opposite.

"Ok, ok, Foaly, relax. Cool it."

Holly was watching from the side. Foaly had never been so angry. But then, she reasoned, there had to be a breaking point.

Butler was strolling down the paddock. Smiling.

Harry suddenly felt a sear of pain. In his scar. Something was terribly wrong, apart form the fact that he had seen Butler being tortured by Lord Voldemort moments ago. If those were moments.

"Where were you, Butler? Holiday? You could have told me."

Butler looked at the sky when answering. "Madame Ko called me. I needed to go."

Harry looked closely at Butler. So did Artemis. Butler looked different. That meant that….

They were interrupted by Mulch. "Guys, we don't have much time left. The boys want me belowground now."

"Well, Butler's back, isn't he? Now we can go."  
With a lot of hesitation, Harry came with them.

The shuttle rumbled and Harry marveled at the wonder he was looking at. Artemis, was used to it.

Mulch was easily steering the shuttle through the chute. Chute 63. Infamous for trolls.

This thought about trolls had occurred to him. "Hey Artemis, trolls are a lot different here, I presume?"

Artemis replied, "The troll has tusks. It is about 18 pounds max." He could not continue with his description as the shuttle bumped into the immigration department polymer wall.

"Nice steering," commented Harry icily.

"What did you expect?" Mulch retorted.

Holly was waiting for them in the waiting room. Mulch shuffled uncomfortably into the room.

"Eh-Holly"  
"Just shut up, Diggums. Now we got an extra human knowing about us."

Holly seemed to be in a very bad mood.

"Holly, it was vital for Artemis here to regain his knowledge about the people. I can't believe that Julius trusted the Psych Brotherhood and made Artemis mind-wiped.

Again, Harry found himself lost.

"Mind-wiped?"

Holly ignored him but could not stop herself from thinking that Mulch was every bit true.

Harry followed the unlikely allies out of the terminal and into Foaly's Booth. He was extremely surprised.

Just then, a rogue goblin jumped out and grabbed Mulch.  
"Let our brothers go or we will roast our little friend here." The leader seemed incredibly dumb to even talk to a Captain.

Holly sighed. She faced these threats every day. She took out her Neutrino handgun and fired three blasts from it. Only it did not work.

The goblin literally smelled victory, because he started pumping fireballs from each finger. "Ready?"

Harry knew no one was expecting this. He did not even want to do it. But slowly he took out his wand.

"What's that?" the goblin enquired, curious.

Immediately Harry shouted, "Impedimenta!" and the goblin was blasted off his back.

Holly looked at Harry as if he was an alien. Then, breathing heavily, she said, "The commander is waiting. Guys, let's go quickly.Mulch, you have met your waterloo."

Root was surveying Harry closely. "So there, Harry, perform some magic tricks with your wand for us. How about the flowers out of the wand trick?"

Harry, taking this literally, shouted, "Orchidaeous!" and flowers burst out of his wand.

Root, for once , was impressed.

"Not bad, eh Mud Boy?"

Harry smiled in imitation of Artemis.

"Glad to have impressed you, Your Majesty."

Wormtail waited for Malfoy to turn up.

Lucius was there in a flash.

"Yes, what is it? I am very busy at the moment."

Wormtail quivered."Er-the Master wants me to tell you"

"To hell with your introduction, now TELL ME THE NEWS BEFORE I PUT A CURSE ON YOU!" Malfoy shouted.

"Ok, ok keep your hair on."

Well, almost to the point.

"Harry has gone missing. Harry Potter."  
"WHAT?"

"Yes, Harry Potter has gone missing and now we have to look for him. The Dark Lord is extremely angry."

"You mean, you have to look for him."  
"You dimwit, why did you think he called you here? Of course he wanted you to help me with finding Potter."

"I got too much work to do."

"Yeah, call that work? Treating your sun's hair, washing your own hair, and also Narcissa"

"Shut up, alright? I'll help you. Now just shut up."

Wormtail grinned. Driving Lucius Malfoy's anger up was one of the perks of this job.

"Root said we need a mind-wipe? Why do you think we came belowground? Do you think us stupid?" Mulch was saying angrily to Foaly.

Holly watched them having the quarrel and suddenly realized the problem that Root had faced when he made Foaly angry. She moved in, clearly wanting to avoid a scene like that.

Foaly was stamping his hoof angrily against the OP's console. Mulch lay pinned under it.

He could not do anything about it.

"Don't make me smash a computer in frustration, _Diggums,_I am already very angry."

Holly pulled out a carton of carrots. She waved them frantically. Foaly caught sight of the orange thing bouncing along the air.

His anger evaporated like alcohol.

"Sorry there Mulch, lost my temper there," and as if nothing happened, he pulled Mulch up to his feet.

Then he scurried over and swallowed the carrot.

"So…Root said we needed a mind-wipe?"  
"Yeah, that's right, he said that Fowl may become a severe liability to the People as he stated 4 years ago."

"But-but we all know that Fowl has reformed from his hoolig-"

He was interrupted by a voice from Foaly's surround speakers.

"Is that Foaly?"

"Obivously."

"We got a big big problem here. What a stinker. Guess what?"

"What?"  
"A Mud Man has kidnapped Chix Verbil."

"WHAT?"

"Just that."

Artemis suddenly realized the absence of Butler in the room. "Oh, gods above,"he breathed.

"See Artemis? You have already become a severe liability to the People."

Butler was strolling down Lesringing Street when the package he was holding in his jacket began to move. He stopped it from moving much with a swift rabbit punch to its head.

Just then, a voice issued from the jacket.

"Muhhhlp?Mullpp, Muhhllpp."

Butler blinked. What the hell was that?

He opened the jacket slowly.

"D'Arvit," came Chix's voice.

"Shut up.He wants you."

"Who?"

"HIM."

"Who him?"

"Silencio."

"What?"

"Can't you just shut up?"

"No I can't as a Mud Man has kidnapped me and I don't know where the D'Arvit-ting hell I am going."

"OK now don't make me angry. He wants you alright, and I don't want to disappoint him."

Chix was completely confused. "Who is HE?"he inquired.

Butler flung him a few meters and then picked him up.

"Did that hurt?"

A word scrolled across Chix's chest.

"D'Arvit."

Harry found himself forgetting about Lord Voldemort for a very long time, without even realizing it. Artemis had taken out a big chunk of his energy, and truth be told, he was enjoying it.

"Butler kidnapped Chix?"

"It's possible."

"But-how-how?"

"Butler is capable of incapacitating a rhinoceros."

"Who gives a damned crap about that? All I want to see is if he is capable of kidnap."

Harry felt a bit out of place. He had been very quiet since he had been rescued by Artemis.

"You know something? The only way Artemis is going to find out if Chix-er, if that's what you call him-has been kidnapped is if he goes ther and finds out."

"Mud Boy is right."

Harry felt a pang of satisfaction. At least he had brought a point out.

"Now we look for him?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll track him down in a sec."

True enough, in a sec, as Foaly put it, Chix's location was prevailant.

"Er……ok, he's at this place called……how the hell did Butler get him there so quickly….Ottery St Catchpole….Great Britain…."

Harry's stomach gave a funny jolt. That was where Ron lived.

"He's staying , I think, in a house there….The Harrowing,No.32…"Foaly replied, triumphant.

"So are we going now?"

"Now? You should mean this instant," Harry advised and Disapparated from there.

"How did he do that?"

"God knows…."

Butler walked into the house. It was barren. Nothing at all.

"Cheery place."

Chix tried to say something, but something came into attention. He was losing magic.Butler must have realized this, as he said,"I allow you to come into this house but…you should never use your power against me or never disobey me."

Chix felt better. His magic was back, but now he could not attack Butler.

From the other side came," STUPID FOOLS! YOU COULD HAVE NEARLY KILLED GINNY!"

Butler raised his eyebrows.So did Chix.

Ron was running as fast as he could up the stairs into the room. Fred and George were hot on his heels.

"DON'T RUN! YOU COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY,NITWITS.." Mrs Weasley's shrill voice came up the stairs and her red face, now as red as Commander Root's when he was really angry, was bobbing, trying to catch up with them, but to no avail.

CRACK. Harry appeared in Ron's room ,who was shocked at the sudden appearance of his friend.

"Hey there Ron, I thought I heard your mom losing her temper….."

"Tell me about it. "

"What did she mean when she screamed you could have done her a serious injury?"

Ron continued to pant. Then he said," Well, Fred and George were fooling around with the stove, taking turns to bob it around and see who could throw it, if you get what I mean, towards the door of the kitchen and back. Now, Ginny was on her way home, and unluckily, I wanted to have a go, and it nearly missed her head. She did this sort of…what was that Muggle movie name again?Ah…the Natric,eh?"

"The Matrix," corrected Harry.

"Yeah, in the movie he would do a _dodging stunt,right?He would dodge the bullet. That_ was nearly what Ginny did. Only thing, she fell flat on her back. So Harry,what are you doing here?"

Harry explained what happened to him and how he landed up here.

"There are people who live _underground?_"

"Er….fairies…"

"Weird!"

Just then, another crack sounded in the room, and Mrs Weasley appeared.

"Ron, come down this instant and apologise to Ginny! Oh, Harry, dear , I did not spot you there…what is the cause for the sudden arrival?"

So Harry, resigned to the worst, recited his predicament again.

Then Mr Weasley came back. "Harry, why are you here all of a sudden?"

"Ron, you explain," said Harry, with a dry mouth.

The Lear Jet was flying across the Atlantic Ocean. Artemis Fowl, Mulch Diggums and Captain Holly Short of the LEPRecon unit were on board.

"So, Mud Boy, what was it that allowed you to outsmart us and beat the mind wipes and the _mesmerising_?"

"I had some lens in my eyes. Something like the iris cam. It reflected the mesmer. So I could lie to you freely."

Foaly cut in."Holly, I had asked you a question 4 years ago, remember? Whether you would miss the Mud Boy? Now tell me, would you miss the Mud Boy?"

Holly looked out of the window, the fluffy clouds shooting past below. She recounted how the Mud Boy had gotten the idea of reattaching Holly's trigger finger. She thought about the sincerity that Artemis had shown, trying to save his father. He thought about the madness that he had requested Holly to restore to sanity for his mother by giving back half of the gold.

"Yes, I would have missed him," Holly admitted.


	5. Across The Road And Into A Trap

Chapter 4-Across the road and into a trap 

"Bill? Bill? BILL!"

"Ok, ok, don't lose your blob, what is it?" Bill Weasley looked around at Percy, who was surveying him irritably through his horn-rimmed speactacles.

"Ahem. The Minister would like to inform you that"

"That Percy's a twit and Bill should have a longer ponytail."

"No. He requests you to his office this Monday."

"For what?"

"Don't ask me, ask him!" He thrust the paper below Bill's nose.

Bill read it. Then Percy's face unfurled into a grin. A rare thing.

"You're kidding."

"No I'm not."

"What is it?" Mrs Weasley had just entered the room.

"Percy's been made Minister of Magic."

"No I have not," Percy retorted.

"Let me see that letter." Mrs Weasley snatched it away.

"Oh,Percy…….this is wonderful!"

"Yeah, well, Griselda Marchbanks told me that they wanted to give me a position in Ludo Bagman's office or theirs, and they could not pick which one, so they drew lots, and I landed up in Ludo Bagman's department." Now he sounded bitter about it. "But still, it's okay, I had the same position Ludo had 4 years ago,"he added happily.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

When Mrs Weasley opened it, she had the shock of her life.

There was one boy, who was about Ron's age, in the door in an Armani suit and Cartier chronograph. Beside him was a creature that looked worse than a garden gnome. _Beside him, _there was this creature _floating_ in mid air. Something very weird was going on.

Harry and Ron bounded down the stairs. "There you go, I told you they would be here soon. This is Artemis Fowl."

Artemis settled down in the dingy house. He was not used to this type of living. He reasoned that the Weasleys were poor. Holly did not like the house too, only because it was a house.

"Er….."said Harry, unable to start a conversation.

"Friends of yours, Harry? We'll be glad to house them for some time…."She sounded bitter, as if the house was too small, which Harry knew,was the truth.

However, opposite, Butler was having a big problem with Chix, who was going crazy trying to fly and whack Butler in the face, only to fall back on the ground straight on his face, seeing as he had a hole in it due to a flying accident 5 years ago.

Butler was getting angry.

"Verbil, one more time you do that and you get a black eyeeyouch!"

Chix had managed to hit Butler in the eye finally.

"That's it Chix, you are dead meat," and Butler went up to Chix and began to throttle him. Chix's magic was beginning to heal him, but not for long.

Suddenly Butler stopped.

"What, Master?"

"Who's that?" Chix enquired.

"Shut up, Chix. Not you, Master," Butler continued.

"Who Master?"

"I have to go to the opposite house now? NOW?"

"Who says?"

"Shut up, Chix! Okay Master, I'm headed right there," Butler stopped speaking to himself.

"Damn it Butler, who the hell was that?"

"Now you make me really angry."

Suddenly, his eyes went all misty and then…back to normal again.

"Where am I?"

"Glad you don't know it," Chix said, sulky.

"No, really, I don't know where I am."

Chix was a little suspicious. "Do you know who I am?"

"Er….no. I have never seen you before."

"I know that you are Butler. But do you mean to say that you really do not know where you are?"

"You fat nincompoop, that's what I said at first."

"You really can avoid the insults, Butler."

Butler was feeling lightheaded. As if he was under a spell. _Spell._ That rang a bell.

"Lord Voldemort! Lord Voldemort!"

"Stop babbling, Butler, and get me out of here."

"No one is babbling, Chix, now shut up before I impale you."

He walked out of the house and started to shout, "Lord Voldemort! Lord Voldemort!" at the top of his voice.

"Poor guy. He's lost his marbles." thought Chix.

How wrong he was.

Mrs Weasley was getting up after lunch from the table when she heard someone shouting "Lord Voldemort " at the top of his voice.

"Someone has gone mad."

Harry was flying his Firebolt all around the Weasley's garden.

Then he saw Butler.

"Artemis! Artemis! I've got him!"

"Got who?" Artemis inquired.

"Butler!"

"Where?"  
"Out-outside!"

Artemis ran out at top speed, hoping not to miss Butler.

"Lord Voldemort!" came a voice.

Harry nearly fell off the fence. Since when did Butler have a relationship with Lord Voldemort?

That question was answered almost immediately.

"The sod tortured me!"

"What did you say, Butler?" asked Artemis, not sure that he had heard properly.

Firstly, he was shocked that Butler could even talk like that, but secondly, he was shocked that he had not even noticed Artemis in the first place.

"Master Artemis! What a relief to see you," Butler exclaimed, headed towards Artemis.

"Where's Chix Verbil?" Artemis asked tentatively.

"Chix Who?"

"Verbil. I thought you had kidnapped him."

"So he is the weird guy at home with me."

"Right. You catch on fast, don't you, Butty?"

The next second both Artemis and Harry fell on the lawn laughing so hard that they were partially dehydrated. Butler, not used to comedy, stared at them.

"What?"  
"Butty, Butty, Butty, you are very slow."

"Ah, Master Artemis, I hope you will not call me that again, as it is quite embarrassing for a bodyguard to be called a weird name _Butty when_ it may mean the short form of buttocks."

_"Sure, alright, Butler." Then Butler's mind whirled and he saw Harry._

_Harry Potter. The Master's target._

_"Hey Harry," he said, his eyes misting, let me show you what Chix looks like at home."_

"Sure," said Harry unsuspectingly, not knowing what _Butty_ had in store for him.

It looked as though Lord Voldemort was in control again.

Harry had a suspicion. Butler _looked_ as if he was under the Imperius curse. _Looked like._ Harry wondered if he was being lured into a trap. _Across the road and into a trap._ Harry chuckled. It was once in a while when he would be lured into a trap. As security, he took out his wand out of his pocket.

Then Butler spun around with his _wand._

"_Stumpefy!_ _" _he yelled.

Harry was on the ground before he knew it, but he had only one thing stuck in his mind at that moment.

How did Butler know how to do magic? How? How? How? How? How………………… 


	6. The Real Seer

Chapter 5-The real _Seer _

When Butler carried Harry's limp form across into the house, Chix was walking around. He was waiting around for the original Butler. The _original._ Not the one he had not expected to see, the cold Butler. That was one thought that scared the pointy ears out of him.

Butler strolled in with a limp form in his hands. Oh boy, thought Chix, here comes another helpless person. Terrible.

Then Chix recognized the face. Foaly had run him up on the helmet, and warned him not to attack him if he appeared in Haven as he was a new guy on their side.

Harry Potter.

Butler said, " Chix, I _want you to look after Harry here when I go to inform Master about my _job done. Look-"

Then something really weird happened. It was like Butler went into a fit.

"Look after Harry-"

"I've done a stup-"

"Potter here as he is very im-"

"Stupid thing, I'm a _Seer_, I nearly-"

"Important to the Master, do not kill-"

"Killed Harry, he too is a wizard like _me-_"

Chix was completely confused now. Something was going very wrong.

Then he understood.

People usually reacted like this when they were fighting the _mesmer _and it looked like he was under one. However, was it possible, just _possible, that he was fighting a different type of mesmer? _

Then Butler's tune changed completely.

A harsh voice took his place. It gave Chix the creeps.

"_ The Dark Lord has risen again,_

_faithful supporters behind him,_

_Difficult to rebel,_

_Here rings the death bell,_

_For there will be three destined_

_to destroy him,_

_there will be one,_

_who may change heart,_

_there will be future-tellers_

_who will guide the way_

_and thus will the Dark Lord be vanquished,_

_but by only one,_

_the only one,_

_who faced him 7 times,_

_and escaped,_

_and those who try to vanquish the Dark Lord other than the chosen one,_

_will be destroyed by him,_

_and they may only help,_

_but one step across the red line,_

_and they will be dead,_

_and help will come,_

_to all those,_

_who ask for it,_

_and it may not be magical,_

_it may not be non-magical,_

_and thus,_

_will the Dark Lord be destroyed,_

_by the Chosen One,_

_banished from this world,_

_for his sins,_

_or he will be alive,_

_but pay his price for all his life,_

_and so the Chosen One may be destroyed _

_by the Dark Lord,_

_only if,_

_he does not use the correct person,_

_for help, _

_to vanquish the Dark Lord,_

_For He Who Must Not Be Named,_

_Will chose his partner,_

_who like the friend of the One cannot,_

_destroy the Dark Lord,_

_or he will suffer,_

_a painful life,_

_just like the Dark Lord,_

_when defeated,_

_so here ends the prophecy,_

_and the One or the Dark Lord may survive…….."_

Butler's head lolled around and he came back into consciousness. He had fought the Imperius.

"Chix, what am I doing here? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Harry appeared behind. He had heard the prophecy. He was awake.

"Harry? What are you doing here?"

"You were under the Imperius curse, Butler. Now you just made a prophecy and I know who exactly the chosen one is."

Harry wasn't likely to forget the prophecy in a while, as he had heard some of them before, and this one, especially, was one he liked.

He repeated it to Butler, Chix amazed at Harry's memory power.

Then Butler looked straight into Harry's eyes.

"There is something I have not told you before, Harry. Not even Master Artemis knows about this. This is my darkest secret."

Harry looked at him intently.

"I'm a _Seer_."

"WHAT?"

"My original name was Domovoi Trelawney. I was born in Ireland, but my parents did not want me to mess up my life, so they hid the fact that I was a magical person. But I found out the truth, and I learnt spells myself, and although no one notices it, I always have a wand hidden up my sock."

Harry gaped at him. Butler, a _Seer_?

It was true, anyhow. He had made a prophecy.

Then something rang a bell in his head. _Trelawney._

"Do you know Sybill Trelawney?" said Harry, not knowing how weird this was going to sound.

Butler looked at Harry as if he had hit the nail on the head.

"She's my sister," he said softly.

"Then Juliet?" who Harry remembered Butler had talked about when at the Weasleys.

"She's my step-sister. Though I love her like my own sister. I was given to the Butlers to be looked after by my parents, as they really did not want the truth of me being magical known."

"So your great-great-grandmother must have been Cassandra Trelawney."

"You learn fast, Harry. Yes. She was my great-great-grandmother. A good one too. She lived quite long, about 116 years.. I was 4 years old that time. She saved my life once, when a tree was about to fall in front of me. 'Death shall fall' she had said, and I stopped, and the tree just cracked and fell. "

Harry liked this. Then he remembered something about _Seer_ capabilities being passed down about 2 generations.

Butler immediately answered, " Yes, I was the obvious one who had gotten more capabilities than my poor sister, who rarely made predictions and only made prophecies. Though some of here capabilities come in useful. Harry, you must have realized what one of my capabilities are by now."

Harry looked at him. _He could read minds._

"Do you know who Voldemort is?"

Butler looked sadly at Harry. "I have heard of your parents' heroic death. But here I have to disclose a secret to you."

"What is it?" Harry asked, eager for more.

"It was Artemis's first birthday the day your parents died. He was born on the same day as you. July 31. You had vanquished the Dark Lord, and I could read the signs. In fact, I had made a prophecy that day. In my room, when I had been guarding Master Artemis, and I had a hunch that something would happen. And when I felt very strongly that it may happen, I got a tape recorder and started to record it."

"Then what?" asked Harry, interested.

"Suddenly I realized that the feeling was gone. Then immediately, I ran to the tape to rewind it to the start."

"What happened?"

"At first, nothing. Then I heard a harsh voice."

Butler screwed up his face in an attempt to remember the prophecy.

"_The Dark Lord will return,_

_back for revenge and soon,_

_One will face the challenge,_

_of surviving the Lord,_

_to destroy him,_

_and rid the world of this tyranny,_

_but the loss of two,_

_very important people _

_will affect the One's life,_

_and so lies the One,_

_so very helpless,_

_as the Lord cowers over him,_

_having destroyed the two…….."_

Butler looked wearily at Harry. "You will not tell anyone, will you?"

Chix and Harry looked at each other. Their eyes met for a second.

Then they said simultaneously, " Nope."


	7. Godric's Hollow

Chapter 6-Godric's Hollow 

Artemis was waiting for Butler in the Weasleys house. He had been entertaining the Weasleys of his _Muggle _endeavors, all of which seemed far-fetched to all of them, who could not believe that this 17 year old had been the mastermind at the age of 12 for stealing gold from the fairies (Holly Short could be seen hovering nearby with a scowl near her face and her hands subconsciously straying close to her Neutrino).

Then Butler walked in dreamily. _Dreamily._ He held a piece of paper in his hand, which was containing an untidy scrawl. Harry and Chix walked behind him.

Artemis was glad that Butler had turned up, and that too, with Chix. However, Holly was not so pleased.

She whipped out her Neutrino, then said," Butler, did you kidnap Chix just to bring us here?"

Butler took out his wand. Harry gritted his teeth.

Actually, Butler had not been able to fight the Imperius fully, so he had become part of Voldemort's power again. Harry and Chix had been following Butler closely should anything bad happen, and so did that moment come.

Ron looked at Butler's wand, his mouth gaping. How did Butler know how to use a wand?

Slowly, he let go of the paper. Then he muttered," Portus", loud enough for no one to hear.

Holly leaned in to read what was written. It looked uncannily like Chix trying to write English.

BUTLER IS UNDER A CURSE CALLED THE Imperius curse. Do not attempt to aggravate him as he will attack very quickly.

Holly, who looked bewildered, continued to read.

BUTLER IS A PROPHET. HE CAN CREATE PROPHECIES. HARRY AND I SAW HIM DO SO JUST NOW.

Holly was right. It was Chix's handwriting.

THE PROBEM NOW IS THAT BUTLER IS LIKE A MAD RHINOCEROUS. IF HE ATTACKS, THIS HOUSE WILL BE SMITHEREENS BEFORE YOU COULD SAY " butler " .

WE NEED YOU TO TELL THE WEASLEYS ABOUT THIS PROBLEM AND HELP THEM SOLVE IT, AS THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN DO MAGIC AND STOP THIS MADNESS. TAKE THE NOTE AND GO NOW.

Holly squinted at the note, then to Butler, then to Chix. Chix looked visibly nervous.

Then Butler reeled and fell to the floor.

Butler massaged his chest. "Kevlar, did you say?"

Artemis nodded.

Butler was relaying the scene where he was shot in the chest 4 years ago. Then he opened his eyes.

"Oooh……"

"Butler, we have a serious problem. I know when you are under the Imperius curse and when you are not. However, if you cannot fight this curse fully, Voldemort is going to have full control of you soon."

Butler tried to get up. He fell back with a groan.

Mr Weasley looked down at him with concern. All the other 7 Weasleys were in bed.

Holly looked very worried.

Then Butler muttered," The note……."

"This note?" Holly said, hovering there and pointing at it.

"I'll give it to him." Harry pried himself up from there chair. He was very tired.

"No, Harry, go back and sit. Rest." Holly's face was tinged with concern.

Ron bounded down the stairs and fell headfirst into the note. Holly and Harry also were frozen in the action of holding it. The result: Three people about to hold the note.

Then a gust of wind blew it across to Artemis, who was lying awake, tired to his gut. He caught it, just as Ron held it to prevent himself from falling, Harry and Holly, tugging at it to give it to Butler.

There was a jerk behind Harry's navel; Harry felt himself spinning; Holly was screaming near him; whether with joy or fear he did not know; Ron kept grunting and snoring; Artemis held on tight; his blue eyes large and round; then suddenly, Harry felt his feet hit ground.

He had seen this place before. Somewhere. Then it came to his memory.

"Godric's Hollow…" he said.

There stood the house that Harry had nearly been murdered, 16 years ago, on his birthday. His parents had died at the hands of Voldemort.

"_Not Harry, not Harry…."_

_"Stand aside, you silly girl…."_

_"Lily, take Harry and run! "_

Harry blinked off the tears coming out of his eyes, and turned to look at his comrades.

Ron now was fully awake.

Artemis was surveying the house, which plainly meant he disapproved of the condition it had been in. Actually, the house had been rebuilt, as Dumbledore had told Harry a year before, for living in, but nobody wanted to, as it was, as rumored by people, jinxed, as everyone could remember that the Potters had met their waterloo here.

Holly decided to start a conversation. "Let's get out of here" were the first words out of her mouth.

Then she flew at the opposite direction, and fell to the ground with a bang.

"Holly!" Artemis ran up to her and began to shake her. Then blue sparks traveled the length of her hand. He had enough experience to know that it was Holly's magic.

She trashed about violently as the shock sent Holly headfirst in the same direction she was headed in. She simply bounced off an _invisible_ wall. _Invisible._

"I think we were sent here to do something. This wall, I think, surrounds the house, to prevent us from leaving."

Ron spoke for the first time.

"Well, shall we go in?" Harry questioned, choosing his words carefully. Not a good idea.

Harry bravely opened the door. " Hello?" he called cautiously.

Then he giggled. Why was there a necessity to say Hello when he knew there was no one at home?

Holly, who had been fully rejuvenated, looked slowly at Harry.

" Something tells me this is not a good place to be in. How did we land up here anyway?"

" A Portkey," replied Harry solemnly. " Butler must have made the note a Portkey."

"Chix wrote the note?"  
"No, when did Chix even have energy to write a note?"

" The handwriting on the note was Chix's."

Harry stared deeply into Holly's eyes."

"Then, m'dear, he must have impersonated Chix's handwriting."

Harry giggled again. M'dear.

Artemis found it daunting.

"Listen, if we do not get out odf there alive, all of us are going to kill you, Harry, Butler around or not. So shut up, everybody, and let's look around for the reason that Ronald predicts."

So they trudged all around. They searched the storeroom, almost everywhere, even behind the carcass of a dead kangaroo, which was rotting gruesomely behind the closet.

This gave Harry an idea.

"There is someone living here. He ate that kangaroo."

Harry congratulated himself on that discovery.

"The question is, who?"

A small figure darted out from behind the closet. Harry just caught it.

It was a house-elf.

"Dobby!" said Harry, shocked and relieved at the same time. Dobby looked around, his tennis-ball-size eyes surveying the now familiar face.

"It is you! Harry Potter! Oh, Dobby has been waiting for you for so long….so long….."

Harry looked confused. " _Waiting for me?"_ he asked, in astonishment.

"Yes, sir, yes, I have been trapped in this house for 6 months, sir, and I have been longing for the day when I could meet you so that you will take me away?"

"How do you know I was going to rescue you?"

"Sir, sir, you ask too much of me, for this secret I cannot disclose, until the correct time comes."

Harry looked closely at Dobby. He had grown thinner.

Dobby seemed to realize this.

"Sir, I think you are wondering why poor little Dobby is this thin……am I not right, sir?"

"Yeah, Dobby," Harry said offhandedly.

Beside, Artemis thought he was going mad. Holly too. Both of them were completely taken by surprise. Looks like Harry Potter knew almost everyone he saw. The magical world was something like a small world itself.

"Dobby has been banished. Banished from Hogwarts, but I did not do anything, sir!"

"Banished from _Hogwarts?_ For what?"

"People started losing things. Professor Vector lost his Arithmancy table. Professor Dumbledore lost his phoenix. Professor McGonagall lost her wand."

"Professor Dumbledore lost Fawkes?"

"Yes, sir, yes, and they found all the items in my room!"

"How-how-how can someone steal a phoenix? Fawkes is dead faithful to Dumbledore. He would not even leave Dumbledore's office!"

"That is the point, sir, that I made to the Headmaster, but the other teachers disagreed. Then Professor Snape says, ' You are a disgrace to the house-elves, and you ought to banished!'"

"Snape said _that._"

"Yes sir, but I swear I did not steal any of that. I ate a kangaroo everyday to live, but you see, I am losing my food supply, as now kangaroos are difficult to get."

Behind, Artemis and Holly were feeling left out. Ron was listening intently.

Then he shouted gleefully.

"Dobby, you can serve at my house!"

"Wh-what?"

"Come to my house, and serve us? You can, right?"

"Yes,sir…..but what about my pay?"

Ron's face fell. He wasn't that rich.

"Er….pay…"

Harry pulled Dobby to his side. Then he bent low and started to whisper into Dobby's ear.

"Ron is touchy about money, as his family isn't rich. So Dobby, will you do me a favour?"

Dobby's eyes were extremely wide. "Name it, Harry Potter!"

"Work in his house for free, for my sake."

He expected Dobby's ears to droop, say that it was impossible, and tell them to politely move off, but what he _expected_ did not happen.

"Sure, Harry Potter! I will be always happy to serve my saviour's friends!"

Ron's face brightened. "Wow, Mum will be happy!"

Dobby was very happy that Harry had gotten him a job. But now they faced another problem.

Getting out of Godric's Hollow.

Peter Pettigrew looked anxiously around the room in Godric's Hollow. He presumed he was in the cellar.

"Sure, Harry Potter! I will be always happy to serve my saviour's friends!"

The voice echoed eerily around the cellar. The cellar door was open. Then he realized it.

"_Sure, Harry Potter!"_

Harry Potter.

The Master's target.

Peter scrambled out of the cellar, before realizing that the door was long way off. The stairs were too high for him to jump. How did that happen, wondered Peter.

Then he muttered," Idiot." He was still a rat, for heaven's sake!

He transformed and groped around for the handle of the stairs, then heard approaching footsteps and he scrambled back downstairs again.

"How are we going to get out of here?" asked Harry. "There is a type of barrier here."

Dobby smiled. A toothy grin. It was quite scary for Artemis, who thought that Dobby was going to go for his neck. Usually his smile gave others the creeps.

Holly was still feeling left out.

Then Harry remembered the prophecy that Butler had made.

"_ For there will be three destined_

_to destroy him,_

_there will be one,_

_who may change heart,"……………………._

There _were _three people in the room. Ron, Holly and Artemis. Ron, Holly, Artemis. Ron, Holly, Artemis. Ron, Holly, Artemis. Ron, Holly, Artemis. Ron, Holly, Artemis. This kept reeling in his head.

There will be three destined…… 

Ron, Holly, Artemis.

Then he understood.

"Get here quickly!" Harry ordered. They followed.

Dobby, as if there was a mutual understanding between him and Harry, held their hands.

"Incurio!" he cried.

Peter watched from his hiding place. Before Potter left, he had to get him to the Master.

The next moment, they were at the Weasleys.


	8. The Rebellion

Chapter 7-The Rebellion 

Foaly was back on site. He brought up some data on his computer.

Root looked from behind.

"Holly…Holly….can you hear me?"

Holly heard the faint voice in her ear.

"We have a dwarf rebellion below here….I repeat….We have a dwarf rebellion here…."

BLAST! CRASH! BANG!

"D'Arvit," came Commander Root's voice from behind.

Holly was hearing intently. Then she connected the waves to the Operations Booth.

What she saw was not what she expected to see.

Mulch was running along the side of Spuds Spuds Emporium.

"Brother dwarfs! Let us learn to control our anger! Divert it into the most difficult task you can find! Aaaarrrggghh…….no, brothers, do not kill me!"

"You traitor? 500 years we have been in prison, each of us. Some of us did not even commit those sins. You dare to stand up for the LEP?"

"He can be treated the same as the LEP!"

"Kill him!"

"Kill him, the traitor!"

Mulch steeled himself for death. Then a blast rocketed the threatening dwarf sky-high.

Root was back.

"Holly….what's going on?"

_"There is a dwarf rebellion belowground. I have to get there as soon as possible."_

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

"Is it really necessary?"

"D'Arvit," shouted Holly. "Do you want to see how bad it is? 1500 dwarfs have escaped from all parts of Haven. They are rioting. Have a look, _estupido._"

Artemis had a look in the helmet cam. She was right. It was bad. Then she began to speak.

"The least you could do was-"

"come with you," finished Harry.

"S-s-sure? Are you sure, Harry? Have you seen what a dwarf can do to you?"

"How bad can things get? We had better help Holly. That way, Voldemort's not going to come after me. He does not know about the _Fairy Creatures._"

Artemis coughed, very scared.

"So let's go," said Holly.

Root took the other two dwarfs by surprise, using his tri-barreled water-cooled blaster.

Mulch was grateful.

"I knew you would save me, Julius. I knew you would."

Then Root pointed his gun at Mulch.

"Who will save you now?"

The dwarfs were really quick on the uptake. One of them pinned Root onto the wall.

The other opened its big mouth.

Oh, gods above, Julius is going to meet a _sticky_ end, thought Mulch.

Then came the torpedo. Mulch realized that it would save Root.

He opened his bum-flap and let it out.

The dwarfs were completely taken by surprise. Some of them flew in various directions, colliding headfirst with Plexiglas. Mulch heard the grotesque sound of things cracking.

Root coughed, then said, "I knew you would save me, Diggums. I knew you would."

Mulch then pointed his bum at Julius's face.

"Who will save you now?"

"It could get dirty."

Artemis groaned. Harry did not know what dwarfs could do, so he stared with disbelief at Artemis.

"Why is it bad?"

"Have you ever seen a destructive dwarf?"

"No."

"Lucky for you. They are very very damaging to the air and the people. Architecture of Haven could easily be destroyed by these creatures."

"What do you mean, damaging to the air?"

"Alas, Harry, do not ask me that or you would be running for your life by the time you even reached Haven."

Artemis then turned to Holly. "Let's go," he said.

Artemis tried lifting Butler's Sig Sauer pistol. Too heavy.

"Hello, Alex Marinas? I need six revolvers, each one .38 caliber. Right now. I believe you are around the corner, right? Come now."

Alex was completely bewildered. How did Artemis Fowl turn up in Ireland's Uruguay Avenue?

Artemis rounded the corner. Holly had done a speed flight across to Ireland, as he needed the ammunition badly.

Then they sped back to Ottery St Catchpole.

"Nooooooo, Mulch, not the deadly _bum,_" joked Root. What a lapse for him. He hardly ever joked.

"Dammit, another _tornado…._" Mulch muttered.

Mulch had always respected Commander Root for the Commander was the only one who had been able to catch him. They had a forged relationship, like brothers, although neither would admit it. Although they did not show it, if one of them was lost, the other would be miserable.

Root also liked Mulch for he was a very stylish and slippery character. For example, when Mulch muttered about the _tornado_, he had the sense to get out of the way before he was blown out into the Mud World.

Holly burst in with Harry and Artemis. The dwarfs were rounding Mulch and Root.

"Get out, Short!" Root shouted.

Holly had the sense not to ignore her superior. Lucky, as Mulch's tornado blew back 32 dwarfs into the roof of Haven with a sickening crunch.

"Now you understand what I meant when I said they were _destructive_?" said Artemis.

Harry could see what he meant. Mulch was a potential danger to the Mud People. One more _tornado_ like that could have wiped out an entire civilization. That was a bit exaggerated, thought Harry.

"Strike! To hell with the LEP!" The mad dwarfs were going crazy, and were destroying the statue of the LEP acorn statue outside Police Plaza.

"Captain Short, go to the Operations Booth and meet Foaly. I'll take care of these creatures. Hurry!"

The trio ran to the OB and saw that Foaly too was going crazy. The stupid dwarfs were blowing air into the glass panel, through which he could see what was going on outside.

"Foaly! What happened?"

"I really don't know, Holly, they just escaped from prison I think Mulch is behind this."

"Impossible. He is outside fighting them. He protected Root, for heaven's sake."

"Maybe, but that does not stop him from being a traitor."

"Whatever. What is the statistics now?"

"Wait a second, I'm getting something here."

Foaly's computer continued filtering suspects for the cause of the goblin rebellion. When Mulch was eradicated as a possible suspect, Holly pumped her hand in the air.

Finally, it stopped at one person. One very dangerous person.

"D'Arvit. D'Arvit. D'Arvit." Foaly muttered.

"Who is it?"

"You are not going to like this."

Harry and Artemis leaned in for a closer look.

"Turnball Root."

Artemis took out his revolvers and handed them to Holly and Harry.

"I have three more, in case yours gets destroyed by them. Harry, use any spell possible to subdue them."

Holly bore her eyes into Artemis's. "Who are you to tell him to use any spell to subdue them?"

"Come on now, Holly, the Fairy People's lives are at stake."

Holly looked at Harry again.

"Harry, use any spell possible to subdue them."

The trio walked out valiantly and then nearly fell onto the ground due to shock.

Police Plaza lay in shambles, and the dwarfs were now headed for Foaly's Operations Booth. Holly could see it was not going to be easy distracting them.

"Incendio!" cried Harry, and one of the dwarfs caught fire.

"Fire! Fire! Run!" shouted a dwarf right behind him.

Then they saw Harry with his wand.

"How dare you…….you shall meet a terrible end!"

They lifted poor Harry bodily off the ground. " Origchandio!" he cried again.

This time, their positions switched. The dwarfs were in the air, while Harry came back to the ground.

Artemis took his gun out and fired six shots from it. That shut the dwarfs up.

"Now tell me, how did you get out of prison?"

"None of your business, you impudent elf!"

"I'm counting up to 3, seeing as you boneheads cannot count to 5. Tell me who let you out."

"1…"

"Go home and protect yourself, you elf, because we are going to kill all of you!"

"2…"

"Do you really think we are so scared of you?"

"3"

"Alright, alright! I'll tell you!"

All the dwarfs stared at the volunteer. He walked down, looking very miniscule and scared. The dwarfs were now shaking their heads.

"What is your name?"

"Modus."

"Okay, tell me who let you out."

He took a deep breath and looked at all the other dwarfs, as if he expected some support from them. Instead, the other dwarfs were still shaking their heads.

"It was _Turnball Root._"

"How did he manage to get you out?"

"He stole the key from an LEP officer, who was in league with him."

"Do you, by any chance, know this guy's name?"

"No. I only know that Turnball let us out."

"Well done, you chose wisely. We will not punish you. However, we need your help to find Turnball."

"What's your point in sending him back to prison when he just came out?"  
"He never learns," said Holly, saddened at how old Turnball looked the last time she saw him.

Harry and Artemis were feeling as bit left out. Then Root and Mulch stood up.

"Listen up, you dwarfs. Turnball is my brother, and I care for him. However, he is a potential danger to all of us. Remember what he had tried to do the last time?"

Holly shivered. During her initiation into Recon, she had come face to face with Turnball, and he was a madman. He had been very clever, and his Tunnel Blue spider could have killed him if Root had not killed it by feeding it coffee powder.

The dwarfs nodded and understood slowly. They knew that Turnball was not a good person, but he had helped them get out of jail to get back at the LEP.

"What can you do to make us trust you, Commander?" asked a plucky dwarf.

"If you do not meet Turnball and bring him to me, the city will be in worse straits than Mulch Diggums letting out a 1000 _torpedoes_."

It was the dwarfs turn to shiver. That was a chilling thought.

"I thought you were going to tell me how to make us trust you," said the plucky dwarf again.

Root glared at the dwarf, who cowered under Root's deeper-than-rose complexion.

"You know something? I don't mind letting you animals rot for the rest of your lives in jail."

The plucky dwarf wished he could have disappeared.

"However, I am sacrificing my life to help you, so you damn well be happy for it, or you'd be zip into gaol before you could say "bloody Commander"."

No one could rebel that. He was famous for it.

"Are you with me?"

He had asked the unnecessary question, for they were already.

Peter looked at the door that led out of Godric's Hollow. Then he saw something inscribed on the nail that was on the ridge of the door.

"Godric Gryffindor."

"Yeah, sure," he muttered and Apparated immediately to Voldemort's side.

Voldemort was red with fury, but he had cooled down sufficiently after Peter had come. True, Peter was a bit useless, but he had helped, nonetheless.

"What news?" he whispered in his cold voice. It was as bad as a Dementor speaking, as Peter imagined.

"My Lord, what can you expect? We have to wait."

"Crucio," he muttered.

Peter shrieked with pain; his body went into spasms; his hands thrashed violently into his sides; he kicked at anything around him, not worrying about his leg being hurt as he could not experience more pain than he was experiencing then; he could hardly take in breath as he was screaming continuously; it was too much.

Then it all stopped.

"Get up, Wormtail. Wait. I have waited. I have waited for 16 _long years!_ Why do you think I want to destroy Harry Potter? Not because of the prophecy, seeing as only Dumbledore can remember it. I want his blood. I want to drink it for as long as I want. Why? Because he destroyed me. What pain I had felt, 16 years ago, when the curse rebounded against me. Can you feel that pain? Never through the Crutatius curse, Wormtail. Do you want a taste of it? Do you want a taste of the Avada Kedavra curse?

Do you?"

Peter was too tired to answer. Voldemort had at least a bit of mercy to him. After all, he was the one who had found him 3 years ago.

"You may be wondering why I can perform the Crutatius cruse so effortlessly. It is because of that reason. That pain, I can still feel, now, which is why that, along with anger, I can make people feel pain like anything, but certainly not like the Avada Kedavra curse."

"My Lord, my Lord…the Muggle…"

Voldemort sat up." What about him?"

"It worked," said Wormtail triumphantly. "He is a _Seer."_

"Excellent. Now all we have to do now is wait."

Peter crumpled onto the ground again, but this time, not out of exhaustion. He thought, "This is what I told the bloody fool just now!", expecting another round of the Crutatius curse from Voldemort. However, the thing that came next was not exactly what he expected. Something extremely rare. Extremely rare.

Voldemort laughed coldly. Always the theatrics.

"Every prisoner has a tracker chip placed inside 12000 pores inside their body. Turnball has them too."

Root sat up. The dwarfs were watching the screen outside Spud's Spud's Emporium. Foaly had manipulated it to show what he was doing in the Operations Booth.

Slowly, the screen zoomed into a red dot moving across Haven. "This is Turnball."

"And how sure can you be of that? Turnball is no idiot," Root questioned, trying to polite, which was a major lapse again for him, for that was not his style, but he was also scared that Foaly might lose his temper like the last time.

" We all know that Turnball is no idiot. That's why the dot is flashing."

Root looked closely. The pony was right.

" He managed to short some of the tracker chips. I think he is still shorting some of them. Yes, he is. the dot is flashing even more weakly."

From outside, a roar went up. The allies looked outside.

The dwarfs were watching gnome wrestling, and Kinzo had just performed a move against his opponent called the _snapfling_. The dwarfs were roaring with laughter as the poor opponent flew headfirst into the ground with a _snap _and then flew out of the ring with the force of the hit on the ground.

"D'Arvit, I forgot that was one of the channels that worked nearly on the same wavelength as mine…" muttered Foaly as he expertly typed on his keyboard. The channel changed, and so did the mood of the dwarfs. Another roar went up and some of the dwarfs shook their hands at Foaly's booth.

"Here the future of our civilization is at stake, and there those lettuces are worrying more about the gnome wrestling," growled Root.

Personally, Holly thought that there was no need to worry about the future of the civilization, Turnball was only a fairy. However, Root wasn't to know that.

"D'ARVIT!" Foaly roared, so loudly, that even the dwarfs outside, who had been hearing the conversation, sat up.

"What?" asked Root, concern slipping accidentally into his tones.

"No more dot," Foaly muttered sadly.

"No problem. Where did we lose him?"

"Here," Foaly pointed, careful not to touch the screen.

Root looked closely at the area.

"That is Argneon Forest."

"Spot on. That is one hell of a big forest, Julius."

Root did not even bother about Foaly calling him by his first name. He reckoned that he had to get used to it.

"Get LEPRetrieval 1,2 and 3 outside Spud's now. Tell them that it is a briefing by Chairman Charatez."

"Sure, sir? The Chairman will not be happy if you use him as your cover."

Root took out his tri-barreled water-cooled blaster.

"Since when did I say I was using the Chairman as my cover? I'm going to be his."

Foaly could not make head or tail of what Root had said, but he was the Commander.

He whispered to Holly.

"He's got the look. You know the one."

Holly nodded furiously. She knew the one.

Turnball Root was jumping all around the trees, not caring about the surrounding thorns that were cutting into him. It would take a while for it to heal, for he had no magic.

Suddenly, Turnball Root came into a clearing. He thought he was trapped. They had found him. Now the dwarfs will be after his blood.

"Hello, creature," said a cold voice. It was a cold and unnaturally high-pitched voice.

Turnball shivered.

"Do you want me to help you?"

Turnball could not see the person; he could just hear him; somehow he felt that it would be bad to say that he was willing to trust him; it might make him look weak.

"Sure," he said, nonetheless.

The person who had the voice shimmered into view, and Turnball confessed to himself that it was worse than he could have seen. The person (was he a person?) or Mud Man, god knows who, had red slits for eyes, and green snakelike hands. He was smiling eerily.

"Help me look for Harry Potter."

"I-I-I do not know where"

"He is belowground, just as you are, and is a Mud Man. Bring him to me and you will be rewarded beyond your dreams."

"How?"

"I will return your magic to you."

Turnball did not care a bit whether the person knew that fairies had magic; all he knew was shaking the person's hand and listening to his instructions of lying in ambush in the forest for the three LEPRetrieval teams about to come in.

Turnball was surprised. This person knew so much.

Harry and Artemis were lagging behind the three LEPRetrieval teams, who were in their combat black-clad uniforms. They wanted time to talk privately.

"Personally, Artemis, I feel what we are doing is useless."

"Listen, Harry, the time will come where you will be very thankful that you did this for the fairies."

Harry shook his head. He didn't think so.

Without warning, suddenly, LEPRetrieval 1 disappeared.

Then it flickered in again.

Harry and Artemis could not believe their eyes.

"D'Arvit, I can't shield, I can't shield!" several fairies complained. It was unsurprising that Grub Kelp, Captain Trouble Kelp's younger brother, notorious for complaints, was one of them.

Then Trouble Kelp buzzed up to six meters.

"Oh, no, no, no………it just can't be………no way…how did this happen………Parapit D'Aletta, Parapit D'Aletta!"

Root jumped back. What was so bad that even Trouble Kelp, who was one of the top LEP officers, and swear artists, had to say something that meant something worse than D'Arvit?

There was only one way to find out, and Root too went up to Trouble's position.

"Dammit. Get Foaly and his technophiles here. Oh, and get the top team of Enviro- Plingers."

Harry, Artemis, Ron (Author's note: I nearly forgot Ron in this part of the story and a thousand pardons for it.) and Holly stood back. Then Ron asked, "Can we see it?"

Trouble looked at them, nearly with tears in his eyes. He started to object, but Root stopped him. "This is what they must be used to, Trouble," he said, calling him softly and kindly with his first name, "So let them have a look."

Harry, Ron and Artemis looked at it, with the help of a platform that Foaly had just brought in. Even Artemis looked sickened at it.

When they were on the ground, the forest had looked like a forest with a lot of trees inside. The boys realized that this was an illusion.

When they looked at it from above, the mangled bodies of various forest inhabitants littered the forest from side to side in a circle, and trees had fallen on them. Lots of trees. There were so many trees on the animals that it had, as the three of them looked closer, formed a circle. It was horrible. All of them reckoned that Root could not have meant this the future to the aboveground forests.

Then Harry's scar seared with pain, and he fell writhing onto the ground, clutching it. His movements were so violent that the risen platform, 6 meters above the ground, began to shake. Slowly, with horror, they realized that Harry was nearing the edge of the platform.

"Get this contraption down! Harry is nearly falling!" yelled Ron, as Artemis fired a few shots in the air to get the fairies attention. Artemis had not really been used to the gun, and it still seemed a bit heavy to him, so the force of shooting caused him to sweat profusely.

Foaly obliged, expertly pressing a joystick hot button, but stopped. He moved the joystick from side to side. The platform did not move.

"No…no… no…" Foaly muttered as he opened up the innards and had a looked at the system.

Ron had been desperately holding on to Harry, but the boy was losing all his energy as Harry was thrashing about, and he felt that if Foaly did not hurry up, he would have no choice but to let go.

Then he saw Foaly meddling with the transmitter device, saw the innards, and noticed something that Foaly did not. A blob of orange gel.

" Foaly, Foaly, the gel, the gel," yelled Ron with the last of his energy. The platform was threatening to throw them off now due to Harry's movements.

Foaly could not hear them, but he turned to them and mouthed something that he could not hear. "Sonorus!" he shouted, pointing to Foaly's throat.

"I'M GOING TO CUT A WIRE AND GET READY FOR A SUDDEN DROP, ALRIGHT?"

Then Ron realized his idiocy. He had forgotten to perform Sonorus on himself!

"Sonorus!" he said, pointing to his throat, hurriedly, but Foaly's hand was far too gone.

In a split second, he cried, "THE BLOB OF GEL, FOALY, YOU MORON!"

Foaly finally heard it, but he had already cut the wire. Then, from the top, the platform fell flat on the ground. A whirlwind of dust rose up around it as the metal giant groaned and shuddered.

Then they saw Ron looking most forlorn and upset. Artemis lay at the side, looking at Ron and Harry. Trouble Kelp went up to them.

"What's wron-" he started to ask, but at that moment, there was no need to do so as it was easy to see what was wrong, as Ron pulled Harry into better view.

Harry's wand hand was completely bent back from the elbow. Bent to the back, rather.

Harry lay immobile in his bed the fairy hospital, L'Ayllewyn Medical Home. Fairy nurses scurried from place to place either going to see a doctor or doing whatever nurses did. These nurses were very unlike human nurses. For one thing, they never wore miniskirts.

One suddenly scurried to the worried gang there. Ron had remembered that in their second year, Harry had lost all the bones in his left arm, and that he had recovered from. Ron wondered if Harry could ever recover from this again.

The nurse opened Harry's mouth, and poured a brownish liquid down it. Harry's ears steamed; Ron thought that it almost had the same effect as the Pepper-Up Potion; Harry thrashed about violently again on the bed and the bed springs groaned under the commotion.

Then he wondered; the same thing had happened in his fifth year; Harry had been thrashing about violently in his bed; but it turned out that Voldemort had been manipulating him by showing him some bad dreams. He had seen some very disturbing things in his life.

Then the vicious trashing ceased. Harry's eyes opened slowly, and he rose from the bed. Then he yanked at Ron's hand so hard the startled boy let out a strangled yell.

"Now, we're even," said Harry.

Artemis remembered the same type of incident that had happened to him, when he was 13. Holly had whacked him between the eyes.

He stole a glance at Holly, who grinned rather guiltily at him too.

Things were definitely looking better.

Harry walked out with a cast. The doctors had reasoned that it would be better to let the hand heal on its own. Harry had been a little unhappy with the turnout of his hand, but the trio next to him were trying their best to cheer him up.

They found Commander Root looking grave at the OB. Harry decided to wait for someone to ask what was wrong.

He did not have to wait long. "What's the problem, Commander?" Holly enquired.  
Then Root looked up.

"Turnball is still in the forest. I found a message from him," he said hoarsely.

Holly looked at the message.

"I am being held captive in the forest by a creature that I believe has come from aboveground. Please save me quickly, or he has threatened to kill me."

"Turnball Root."

The Commander had never looked this bad before. Turnball was his brother, and he still cared for him, and he was also unhappy that Harry had to get hurt here itself.

"What do you say? Do we go get him?"

Julius Root looked gravely at Holly.

"Oh, we go get him. Sure we do."

It was depressing to see Root's state as the haggard troop walked into the dreaded forest again. He had been getting from bad to worse. Holly wondered if he was ever going to be the snappy person again.

Suddenly, a figure darted out from behind a tree. It fell flat on the ground. Then it raised its hand with a moan.

"Julius…."

The Commander ran forwards, hoping that the figure was not what he thought it was. Tears were running continuously down his cheeks now; although it was not proven that it was really Turnball Root.

Too late.

Turnball reeled over, spitting blood out. Root looked at his fallen brother. His face was smashed and bloody. His nose was twisted upside down, and the pain he was undergoing was impossible to decipher because the look on his face was impossible to recognize, as it was smashed.

His wrists were twisted back, of both them, and he lay helplessly in front of Root, who was in danger of breaking down anytime now. Turnball was in definite bad shape now.

"Get him to the nearest _I'sletta _now! (Author's Note: _I'sletta_ means fairy hospital.)"

Turnball motioned for them to stop carrying him.

With his face constricted, he said his last words.

" Listen, brother. It is too late for me to go to an _I'sletta_ now. I will die in a matter of seconds. I have advice for you."

Root decided he should listen. Turnball had more experience than him, he was older than him by a 100 years.

"Do not trust Lord Voldemort."

Then his face constricted further, then it relaxed, then it became almost peaceful, but still in its smashed condition. He lay face-up in the grass, his hands twisted.

Then Julius knew that Turnball was dead.

Fond memories of their childhood flashed through Julius's traumatized mind, the fun they had had, and Julius could not take it anymore.

He pounded the ground, his eyes filled and dripping wet with tears; he kept helplessly calling out his dead brother's name and his cries rang throughout the night; he wanted to die there and then too

Then Holly Short stepped over and put her hand over his shoulder. "Turnball did not die without dignity. He will be given a proper burial. Please, Commander, we feel the pain you feel, but we need you too."

Julius first felt like punching that impudent Captain Short smack in the face; then his pain, sadness and anger evaporated simultaneously; he saw the truth in what Holly said.

He stood up and turned to face her, not having recovered fully. However, he was still ok.

"Nice to see your feelings for me, Captain."

Holly's lips broke into a smile, something unseen for days since this Harry-Artemis affair.

Life, she promised herself, after this affair, was going to be much better from now.

For all of them.


	9. United Against The Same Enemy

Chapter 8 - United against the same 

Enemy

"Turnball Root will always be remembered, although he was a traitor to the city, for the times he was good, for the dignity he had, for his cleverness, and lastly, the kindness he had to his siblings, and the way he managed to show love." The fairy threw the last pack of soil.

"Wait!" Out came Root, with a rose in his hand.

Very Touching, thought Artemis icily. He obviously did not realize the seriousness of the situation.

Julius threw the rose into the grave, now looking very very sorry for himself.

Then with the grave fully covered, they moved out of the graveyard.

"Harry, what do you say?"

"Huh?" Harry had been too deeply immersed in the character, which killed Turnball Root.

"Harry, I said, where do you think Voldemort is hiding now?"

Harry was surprised. It looked like they were thinking along the same lines.

"I think he's aboveground."

"Where?"

Harry thought about it. Then his mind was cast back to the incident where his hand was twisted back. When his scar seared with pain.

"Wait a minute. I remember something."

Julius Root sat up. So did Ron, Holly and Artemis.

"I just remembered something when my scar had caused so much pain that I was thrashing about in the platform."

Julius Root closed his eyes. Why in the world did that darned Mud Boy want to bring up another bad incident in the history of Haven?

" Yeah, I got it!"

"What?"

"I heard this phrase. It sounded like, 'Wormtail, go now and hide in…no, no, it can't be…"

"What?" enquired Ron, feeling a bit left out.

"Do you know where Hermione lives?"

Ron sank limply to the ground. He swore.

"Worse still, she's a Muggle."

Holly and Julius were now feeling left out.

"Can you give us an update, Potter?" asked Julius, regaining his snappish manner.

Harry jumped. Julius had never called him by his surname before.

"Er…see here, Hermione is our school friend. The place I heard where Voldemort was planning to send Wormtail to hide, which meant he was going there soon, was somewhere nearby."

"Okay, what about the catchy words?"

Harry thought for a moment before realizing that the catchy word was Muggle.

"Muggle means not a half-blood, not a pure-blood. A half-blood is a person who had a Muggle father, pure-blooded or half-blooded mother, and vice versa. A pure-blood is a person who has both parents as pure-bloods. A Muggle is a person who has Muggle-Muggle parents."

Julius and Holly took a while to process this. When they finally did, their faces looked as constricted as Turnball Root's when he was about to die.

"Where does your friend, Hermione, live?"

The 5 of them were now in London. Julius and Holly were under the shield.

As Ron, Artemis and Harry walked in front while the invisible travelers hovered above, they could sense a little bit of trouble.

"We got a problem."

"What's that?" Artemis enquired.

"I checked the phone directory for Granger. Stupidly enough, these guys put addresses in the phone directory too. It was the correct address, as I read. 9 Pengio Avenue, London."

"So what's the problem?" Ron cut in.

"Apparently, they are the _only_ ones who live in Pengio Avenue."

"Then why is it 9 Pengio Avenue?"

"There are shops, about 2 miles away, from the house. The street is a blank stretch till the Grangers."

"Which means…."

"Yes, it means that."

Ron looked forlorn now. If Voldemort was holding them hostage in the house, it will be all the more difficult to check on them.

Artemis looked at the useless guns hidden in his Armani suit. He looked around. After making sure no one was looking, he dumped 4 of the six guns in the dustbin. Two were left, just in case.

They reached Pengio Avenue after taking the London Underground to a nearby station. Then they looked to their left.

"Ohh, dammit."

Far away, way down the stretch, the 5 of them sensed trouble.

"Get here, now!" Holly commanded.

"What?"

"Commander, you have a Moonbelt, right?"

A Moonbelt was actually used by fairies to carry heavy weaponry easily, because it reduced weights to 1/6 of the Earth's norm.

"Yeah, I do."

"Alright. I'll take Ron and Harry, you take Artemis."

After having cam-foil wrapped around them, they flew up. Then the challenge started.

"Let's see who's faster, shall we?" Root muttered through gritted teeth.

"Yeah."

Below, the three of them instinctively closed their eyes.

Root massaged his eyes. "Looks like I'm losing it."

Holly had beat him. Which meant that, if the two boys clipped on below her had not held their breath, there would be a vomit trail behind them now.

Ron was lucky. He had gotten the better part of the deal.

They turned to look at the Granger's house. Suddenly, they realized their stupidity.

They had a chimney, but it was small! Therefore, it seemed like fire was coming out!

For a moment, all of them heaved a sigh of relief. Then the door opened, and immediately the fairies shielded.

"Harry! Ron! What in the world are you doing here?"

The next moment, Harry felt like he was being engulfed in smoke, except that the smoke was bushy hair. He preferred the former.

Ron quickly stood dangerously close to Artemis, as if he was not really in the mood to be hugged. Luckily, Hermione did not see through this guise.

Then she turned around and looked at Artemis. Their eyes met.

Ron quickly stepped in, in case the staring caused each other's eyes to be burned or something. He did not realize the staring was not to scare him away; it was because of a completely different reason. A reason that neither wanted to disclose.

"Who's this?" asked Hermione and Artemis at the same time.

"Hermione," said Hermione and Ron.

"Artemis," said Harry and Artemis.

The four of them felt a little awkward saying that. Then Artemis felt a little bit of fluttering near his neck. A warning to get a move on.

"Shall we go in?" Artemis enquired

"Sure," said Hermione, a little too high pitched.

The house was well decorated with pictures of Hermione and her parents. They were unmoving. Ron was heard to mutter, "Weird!" from the back.

Hermione was walking right in front of Artemis. Then Ron and Harry caught on.

"They fancy each other!" Harry exclaimed in a low voice.

"Imagine it. The crime lord and the wife…." Ron muttered dreamily.

Harry nearly punched him. Artemis had looked behind to see what was going on.

They were seated in Hermione's big room, on the third floor. "Now, explain." she said politely.

So instead of Harry, Ron decided to do Harry a favour and explain. Harry was too busy observing Hermione's eyes.

True enough, they darted to Artemis, and gave an appealing look. Artemis looked at her with his large round blue eyes, and gave her a look like it's going to be all right.

"They already look like they are courting each other," thought Harry insanely. Ron had a gaping mouth.

"Harry, I _think I have finished my story. Shall we move off?_"

Harry caught on, and they moved out.

As soon as the doors were closed, Ron fished out a couple of Extendable Ears from his pocket. He gave one to Harry.

Slowly, voices came into his ear.

"My god, Artemis, you are such a charmer!" came a squeal from Hermione.

Harry nearly jumped. From all the stories that Artemis had told him, he was everything _but _a charmer.

" I liked you as soon as I saw you. It was fantastic. I think you felt the same." Artemis's cool voice came out.

" Yeah, and here we are destined to meet!"

Beside him, Ron pretended to choke and puke.

"Do you like Ryan Cabrera?" Hermione asked Artemis.

"Yeah," came Artemis's voice.

Another squeal from Hermione. She was starting to sound like a pig.

"I do too!"

"Listen here, Hermione Granger. Me, Harry and Ron are on a mission now. Lord Voldemort is here and Harry presumes that he is hiding somewhere nearby."

There was a sharp intake of breath in the room. "L-L-L-Lord V-V-Voldemort?"

It was Harry's turn to gag. He mouthed to Ron, " It's not that I presume it, I know it!"

Ron nodded silently.

"We will meet after this mission. But now we need your help."

"Anything, Artemis. I'm really happy to have met you. I have never had this type of feeling before since…well…Viktor Krum. He's dead."

Harry remembered. Viktor Krum had been killed by Voldemort in the 6th year. This was a bigger reason for them wanting to get on with their mission.

Behind them, Julius and Holly unshielded and simultaneously gave the two eavesdropping boys a whack up their backsides.

Harry mouthed violently, Shut Up and Wait a Minute!

" I thought we have a mission in place?" Holly muttered through gritted teeth.

"Artemis and Hermione like each other," whispered Harry slowly.

Beside him, Ron was explaining the situation to Commander Root.

Holly was taken aback. This was not the time for a love story.

Just then, Harry heard the sound of chairs moving. "Dammit, take the Extendable Ears out now!"

They were just in time. They had shoved the Extendables into their pockets and were standing innocently, looking exactly as if they were about to knock on the door. The fairies behind them were a bit too slow, however.

The door opened and Hermione looked like she could scream the house down.

"Calm down, Hermione," said Artemis, his hand on her shoulder. Holly looked at Julius Root, who was completely bewildered.

Then Artemis himself launched into the explanation for the fairies. He told her about his escapade, editing several parts, to make him look like the hero. Holly looked as if she could pound Artemis the way Julius pounded the ground when Turnball died.

Hermione could certainly see the 'hero' in Artemis. They now looked as if they were about to waltz around the room to 'This Love'.

The way they walked down seemed like the first moment of the song.

"**_I was so high, I did not recognize, the fire burning in her eyes, chaos took control of my mind…"_** Harry shook off the thought from his mind.

Battling Voldemort was going to be all the more difficult with a love story in place with a war scenario.


	10. Love Blossoms, Problems Blossom

Chapter 9 - Love Blossoms, Problems Blossom

Mr. and Mrs. Granger were in the hall when the unlikely 6 people walked in. To them it only looked like 4 of them, because luckily, the fairies had remembered to shield.

Artemis quickly hid his hand behind his back and walked in innocently. Ron made that same impression. Then Harry realized something.

Ron was jealous of Artemis!

Then he knocked his own head with his clenched fist. He was being stupid. He had known Ron for 7 years, true enough, he had never had this kind of problem, except the time in his fourth year, when he accidentally asked Fleur Delacour out for the Yule Ball.

They walked out, and surveyed the lush green pasture in front of them. It definitely looked like the place Voldemort would hide.

A rat scurried past Harry's foot. He did not like rats. The image was etched in his mind, and like a camera, suddenly, the image was magnified, and Harry saw the toes.

One was missing.

Peter Pettigrew!

He dived; his Quidditch reflexes as good as any gymnast's. He caught the rat by its tail.

He got up and lifted it off. Then he showed it to Ron. Ron saw what Harry had realized too.

"Shall we force him to transform?"

" We had better. He has to explain something."

They dropped the rat, and in one fluid motion they brought their wands out and shouted, "Metamorphus!"

There was a blue flash and Peter Pettigrew lay on the road, gasping.

"Okay, Wormtail, you have some explaining to do."

His hairs were even whiter now; served him right, thought Harry, as Ron had a firm grip on him.

"Where is your boss?"

Peter's lip trembled; he did not want to explain his predicament.

"How did you know I was here?" he asked, bewildered.

" We are asking the questions around here; so you'd better answer first," said Ron menacingly.

Peter looked like he was about to lose it.

"Voldemort asked me to come here. "

"Why?"

"Apparently, there is a curse on me, and if I tell you the reason, I die immediately. If you want to force me to die, go on, but I assure you, you won't be thankful."

Harry suddenly remembered something Dumbledore had told him in his third year.

"_The time will come when you will be very thankful that you saved Peter." _Harry vaguely remembered him having said something like that.

It was probably for that reason that he was willing to let Peter off.

"I know that Voldemort is somewhere here. Lead me to him."

Peter shuddered. However, it would be all the more easier for him. They could finish off the whole lot of them in a shot.

**(Author's Note: Here I make Harry look like a bit of a fool, and you guys out there might be thinking that it is such a wasteful end to a good story, but I will have to do this in order to prove a point in the story.)**

Behind them, Artemis reached into his coat and gripped the two revolvers tightly. Hermione's eyes were wide with terror. Ron had his wand in his sweaty hand. Julius and Holly, were thankful that they could not be seen.

Peter stood on a small square of land. The others squeezed in painfully. The unseen fairies settled on Artemis's and Harry's back.

"_Oh, Dark Lord, take me to your side!"_

The ground rumbled; they moved downwards slowly; then they were in a small cave.

Through the dark, came a cold voice.

"Welcome to my temporary home, 4 of you."

Harry heaved a sigh of relief. Voldemort had not discovered the shielded fairies yet.

"Okay, we need some questions answered," said Harry, stepping forward.

Voldemort looked at Harry slowly. Harry knew that after the questions were answered, he was going to be killed.

"Very well. This is the last time you will see me. So I will answer your questions."

"First. Why do you want to kill me?"

No one had seen Voldemort like this. He was cool, he did not fly into a temper. He seemed as if he had been waiting for this to happen. It was impossible.

Voldemort glossed it over. Then he decided to speak.

"I used to respect Dumbledore. I, however, liked the Dark Arts. Dumbledore did not. My love for Dark Magic made me so powerful. Trust me. I really did not despise Dumbledore."

"Then I reached 16, and the Chamber of Secrets was open. I opened it, of course. Hagrid was framed for it."

"But the only reason that caused me to kill all those Muggles was because I hated them. I hated my father, who had dumped my mother at childbirth. I hated the lot of them."

"Then you came along. Dumbledore told you of the prophecy in your fifth year. You had defeated me."

"My family-that is my Death Eater family, have always fulfilled their prophecies. That night, at Godric's Hollow, where you found your house-elf friend, as faithful Wormtail told me, when I came to kill you, I realized what I was doing. You were not a Muggle. You were a half-blood. By right, I was supposed to kill your mother, because I hated Muggles, which is exactly what I did."

Harry's scar was again searing with pain. He wanted to tear Voldemort apart. He wanted to devour the pain that Voldemort would feel when he did it

"You see, your father was an accident. You very well know that he blocked me, so I removed the block."

Holly felt guilty. She had said that to Commandant Terryl when she had wanted to bring Artemis belowground for investigation on smuggling.

" There was a person responsible for me at Godric's Hollow that night. This person was Regulus Black."

"Regulus was not a faithful Death Eater, and he was on the run. That day, he told me, half the prophecy he had heard in the Hog's Head, to redeem himself. "

"On the way, Regulus rushed past another fellow Death Eater, Macnair. Regulus told Macnair the part of the prophrcy he knew and hastened to see me."

"I killed Regulus, and then realized that Macnair was identified as the Death Eater who had heard the prophecy."

" I was lucky. I had liked Regulus's parents. They liked the way that I was going about killing Muggles."

Harry wanted to rip Voldemort apart. The others were listening intently, shocked.

" The problem was that since I had not heard the prophecy fully, I did not know that we were supposed to have a battle. But what I saw that night changed me."

"Dumbledore did not tell you something that he did not know himself. Now I know the prophecy, and it clearly states that either one of us has to survive."

" I went easy on you, Harry Potter. I gave you a small Avada Kedavra curse. But the reason for that, Dumbledore must have told you. It was because I saw myself in you. You were a half-blood, I was a half-blood. You went to live with Muggles, I went to live with Muggles. That time, though, I did not realize it."

"See, when the curse rebounded upon me, it was magnified, because I had cheated. When you were helpless I had attacked you. Therefore that was cheating in the prophecy."

Slowly, Harry began to see things clearly. Now he knew why Voldemort had lost all his powers.

" I was egoistic. I wanted to kill you, but now for a different reason. I did not know about the prophecy until your sixth year, where Viktor Krum came to me with it written out."

"Krum, I killed him too." Behind, Hermione was crying silently.

"But after I kill you, there is a job I have to finish. I have to kill Dumbledore."

"I told you at first I respected him. But, Dumbledore was a Squib when he was born."

Harry jumped. "WHAT?"

"Yes. Dumbledore did not know any magic when he was born. This is the worst part of it."

Harry suddenly lost all anger for Voldemort.

"Dumbledore used Dark Magic to make himself magical."

"WHAT?" Harry shouted for the second time.

"I did not like Dark Magic to be used for such reasons. Since them I have hated him, and have always wanted to kill him."

Harry, Ron and Hermione could not believe it. Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards…use Dark Magic?

"Harry, I will have to kill you now. You know too much. You friends will have to die too."

Harry could not take the surprises anymore. He had suffered too much pain, too many deaths, too many hardships. Even Dumbledore had cheated them.

Sirius Black. He wanted his godfather back too.

Tears rolled slowly down his cheeks.

"Please kill me. I can't take it anymore."

Ron, Artemis and Hermione stepped forward instinctively.

"No, Harry!"

"Don't do it!"

"It's not worth dying for Voldemort!"

Voldemort had his wand raised. "Avada Kedav"

Then a very weird thing happened.

Peter Pettigrew had been looking from the corner. He could not believe his eyes. There were too many surprises in store for Harry Potter. Including the one he was going to give him.

He could never forget the time when Harry saved him from getting killed by Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. It was time to call in the debt.

Voldemort had his wand raised." Avada Kedav"

Then with a roar, Peter lunged forwards, in the way of the path of the curse.

"Avra!" came Voldemort's surprised voice. He wanted to stop himself, but he was too late.

Peter was blasted straight into the wall. He slumped down and lay motionless. He was dead.

"No, no ,no…" cried Ron.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Harry stepped up and yelled, "Crucio!"

Voldemort writhed on the ground, screaming. No one had heard Voldemort scream. The force of the curse that Harry had unleashed on him was too much.

"Get out, now!" Harry yelled. They scampered onto the small patch of land.

Harry ran forwards, and saw Peter's body.

He wondered whether to leave it there; then he instinctively dragged it onto the small patch. He made it upright.

"How to go up?" Harry muttered.

Then he had a spark.

"_Oh, Dark Lord, return us to Earth to do our sins!_"

The patch moved up slowly.

Whatever the problem, there was a new one.

They had to talk to Dumbledore and find out the truth.


	11. An old foe and new trouble

**All characters mentioned in this chapter and those thereafter and before are either property of Eoin Colfer or J.K Rowling.The plot is original.**   
Chapter 10 - An old foe and new trouble 

The land was now flat. The 6 of them got off slowly.

All of their minds were blank. They could not believe what they had heard from Voldemort. They could not even believe they had escaped alive from there.

"I don't think what Voldemort said is true, " said Hermione flatly.

Ron sided that.

"He might just be playing with your mind," Artemis cut in.

Harry looked forwards slowly. "What do you say, Holly?"

Holly and Root buzzed into view. "You sure about giving advice to the Mud Boy?"

Harry suddenly realized that the fairies had been calling him Mud Boy ever since he had been seen in Haven. "Why do you keep calling me Mud Boy!" he asked angrily.

Holly could not take it any longer. She burst into laughter. Root chuckled derisively.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked hotly.

"We have been c-c-calling you M-M-Mud Boy so much, and you real-l-l-ised it now only? "

Harry did not find that funny. "Listen up. I am in a bad mood, and don't make me curse you, for you won't like it."

The two of them shut up, seeing as what pain Harry had inflicted on Voldemort in the cave.

"Mud Boy simply means person who lives aboveground, the person who ­_used_ to live in Mud," Root added hurriedly in case Harry got into frustration mode again.

Harry cooled it. "Sorry, guys, I was pushed to the maximum, I really can't take it."

"None of us can, Harry, " said Holly soothingly.

Harry's eyes suddenly brightened. "What?" asked Ron mysteriously.

"Where is Hermione?"

Ron spun. In front, clearly could be seen, Hermione was walking away with Artemis absent-mindedly, with Artemis's hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Hey! This is supposed to be a mission aboveground!" Holly muttered angrily. She made to go after them, but Harry stopped her.

"Let them go," he said softly. "We'll catch up later."

True enough, 2 hours later, the four of them bumped into Artemis and Hermione, outside a large manor that reminded Harry unpleasantly of Artemis's Fowl Manor. Ron's eyes were wide.

"Wow...I wonder who lives in this manor..." Ron muttered dreamily.

"Where did you two go?" Harry asked Artemis and Hermione.

"Oh, lots of places...Artemis brought me to the Muggle movies...then we sat by the roadside and had some food...nuts...wow.." Hermione drifted off.

Artemis held her closer. "We won't be seperated, will we?"

Hermione moved up to his face. "If we are, I'll come back..."

Harry turned around, disgusted. What in the world happened to make these two lovebirds like they were unseparable?

Julius Root stepped up. "Sorry to break it up, guys, but there is something wrong, as your friend, Ronald, said here."

"What?" Harry asked, turning around to face Ron. Ron's face had gone a pearly white. He hadn't expected the worst.

"Look at the name of the manor..." Ron muttered, his eyes taunting the ground.

Harry brushed off the dust over the name.

"Dammit." His face constricted till it became like it was shrunken.

"What is it?"

"Of all manors in this whole wide world, why did we land up in front of this one?"

"What is it?"

"Take a deep breath, and have a look."

Hermione looked at the name. Her dreaded enemy.

"Malfoy Manor."

The six of them wanted to make a break for it. It was better to, for in broad daylight, two fairies and three wizards, along with an European crime lord's son, to walk into the dreaded wizard's mansion, was stupid. Plain stupid.

They were just about to turn away when a smooth and oily voice came up from behind.

"Hey, isn't that Granger?"

Hermione strained her face. She wanted to smash the face that said that.

"Hey, Granger! No need to hide, I can see your great bushy hair there!"

Hermione looked as if she was on the verge of tears.

Harry turned around to scream an obscenity to Draco Malfoy, when he stopped. His jaw dropped.

Other than his hair being silkily brushed back to the back, Draco Malfoy was in robes of stunning silver, with a touch of blue and magenta. His face radiated vibrance, for once.

"You're lucky. You stumbled upon the mansion and Mother saw you. Father is not here, he is in jail...no...wait for it..yeah, I forgot, he escaped!"

Harry's insides turned cold. "E-Escaped?" he stammered.

"Yeah, Potter, that was about 6 months ago, right after 6th year ended. Don't you ever read the Daily Prophet?"

Harry was thinking, he did not need to read the Prophet when he had heard real ones muttered to him in life threatening situations, when a lady's voice called through the hall.

"Draco darling, bring your visitors in now...it's impolite to talk to them outside," Narcissa Malfoy's voice called.

Draco made a face, then waved his hands to signal that they were supposed to follow. Charming, thought Harry.

Draco looked behind. "You're lucky, you stumbled upon my birthday party. As usual, I had no visitors...I was kind of bored...then you guys turned up!"

Now Harry realised why Draco was happy. He knew how Draco had felt...having no visitors on your birthday.

"Draco, can you be quick? We are about to cut your cake!"

They broke into a jog, and in the process, Harry stole a look behind to see who was unhappy with the arrangement. To his surprise, Ron looked very very happy.

"Ron? Ron? Why are you so happy?"

Ron faced Harry with a cheery face. "Have we been in such luxury _legally_ before?"

Harry had to admit they had not. The last time they had been in such luxury...well...that was a different story.

Narcissa Malfoy entered the room to find Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger(Gasp! A Mudblood!) seated comfortably on their sofa.

"Are _these_ your _friends?_" asked Narcissa icily.

"Yeah!" Draco said so cheerfully that even Hermione began to smile. It was once in a blue moon that you saw Draco Malfoy look so happy honestly. The last times he was happy was because the _others_ were unhappy.

"Let's go to your room, Draco," said Ron, wishing that he could see more of the great manor.

Soon after, they were seated on the chairs in the bedroom. Draco felt very happy, even if his enemies in school had turned up for his birthday.

"Draco? Aren't you a bit too old for birthdays?" Harry asked timidly, choosing his words carefully.

Draco began to scowl, and made some furious actions at his mother downstairs. Then he began, "Mother has been a bit unhappy since Father went to jail and she's trying to gloss over it. Me and Marriet, the maid, think she's going around the twist."

Artemis nodded sympathetically. He knew how it felt, except that Draco's dad had gone to jail and escaped.

Draco surveyed Artemis Fowl. "Who are you?"

Artemis, not used to this method of being addressed, got the gist, anyway.

"I am Artemis Fowl II. Son of Artemis Fowl the First."

Beside, Harry bent over to Ron and whispered, "They both are in the same mould..." and Ron doubled up silently in laughter.

It was easy to see why they were similar. To a Muggle, Artemis looked like a well-dressed businessman in Pampers, in layman's terms. Draco, to a wizard, looked like the ultimate non-rule-breaking strict character who stood no nonsense and not those who spewed nonsense either.

At that moment, a matronly voice called up the stairs. "Mr. Malfoy, if you please, lunch is ready."

Draco got up. "That's Marriet," he began. "She has been with us for 16 years."

Lunch found Artemis looking at chocolate gateau, pineapple pudding, and more mouth watering deserts. He had of course eaten all this before, but he had never expected this variety from other people. He could easily see that the Malfoys were rich.

"Mr. Fowl, what would you like to drink?" Marriet scurried around as Artemis cleaned his hands with his tablecloth.

"Er….Irish spring water, if you have it."

Artemis congratulated himself on his victory. The next moment he felt stupid for having asked such a question. _If you have it,_ for heaven's sake!

Marriet continued to smile, then she took out her wand and muttered a few words. There was a loud _whoosh,_ then in Artemis's cup, there was Irish spring water, just as he had asked for it. Without ice too.

Artemis had the weird feeling that Marriet could read minds. When he looked up, he saw Marriet smiling eerily at him and nodded her head.

Draco and Harry were engaged in a fast conversation. Harry had been telling Draco about their latest escapade.

"So, then, Draco, the land rose and we escaped! Hermione and Artemis went out together for about 2 hours, then we met in front of your house! Pretty cool, huh?"

It looked like Malfoy shot Artemis a dirty look. "Creep."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, no problem at all." Suddenly Draco's voice had turned cold.

Draco and Artemis hardly talked that day. Both of them were in intense staring matches. Ron decided to ask them what was wrong.

First he went to Artemis. "Why do you and Malfoy stare so hard at each other all the time?"

Without looking up, Artemis replied, "He's staring at me, so I'm staring at him. Tit for tat. Aurum Et…"

"What?" Ron got the gist, however. It looked like Malfoy had the problem.

"Draco? Why are you staring at Artemis like that?"

Draco did not look up either. Instead he snarled, "What's your problem, _Weasley?_"

Ron was stunned. What happened to the kind and non-malicious Draco Malfoy?

"I'm not inquisitive. You two are looking at each other like you want to burn each other's eyes out."

"That's the general idea."

Ron was not sure he had heard properly. "What did you say?" Then slowly it dawned on him. Draco's father knew Dark Magic, which meant….Draco was going to do Dark Magic on Artemis to get rid of him!

"Draco, you nitwit, are you planning to destroy him with your eyes? I know you know Dark Magic, and if you try anything…."

"Shut up, Weasley. Haven't you seen enough to know I won't kill Fowl? We are having a friendly staring match, that's all. My father never taught me Dark Magic."

Ron slowly relaxed. Of course. _He_ had been the nitwit. In fact, in the previous year, Draco was the one who had faced Voldemort and had wanted to save Viktor Krum from doing the stupid thing. Unfortunately he was a little too late.

Then slowly it dawned on him again. What were they both competing on?

_Hermione!_

It was the only thing possible, because for one thing, Draco and Artemis had never seen each other before until a few hours ago. Hermione, after all, had been huddled up to Artemis all the time! Harry too had said that they had gone out for 2 hours before he had met them along with Ron, in front of Malfoy Manor.

Just then, Holly and Root shimmered into view. "Mind-wipe the other Mud Boy once we've finished with Ronald."

"What is it?" Ron asked unsuspectingly.

"We've had an urgent message. Your house has been attacked."


	12. Attack and Breakdown

Chapter 11 – Attack and Breakdown

Without hesitation, Ron sprinted downstairs to where Harry and Hermione, along with Artemis and Draco (still in their intent match) were. Harry saw the worried look on Ron's face and got up.

"What's the prob—"

"They got Mum, Dad, my brothers and Ginny!"

Harry took a moment to process this information. Within a few hours, how did Voldemort manage to cause this havoc? It was possible, of course.

"Ron, we have to go to Ottery St Catchpole now. Can the fairies fly us?"

"That's impossible," interjected Holly.

Harry thought a while. Then he slapped his head and called himself, "Idiot."

"What?"

"We can Apparate, right?"

Draco cut in. "What do you mean, Potter, you can't Apparate till you're seventeen, unless you're doing it illegally, and trust me, you've done it before-"

"Draco, you forgot that Professor Dumbledore gave me the chance last year seeing my capabilities and also as training for an Auror, you forgot, eh?"

Draco knew it well enough. He too knew how to Apparate, his birthday the month after school closed.

"Okay, here goes, on the count of three,"

"1,"

Ron gripped his wand tightly.

"2,"

Holly and Julius flew out for the head start, having the competition between each other again.

"3!"

There was a deafening crack, then the lot of them, except Artemis, disappeared.

"Dammit," Artemis cried.

"They left me!"

Marriet ran in from behind to see her favourite lunch person. As usual, she causally had a look around Artemis's head before deciding what to do.

She first pressed a button, which froze the whole house but not the people. It was like being in a time-stop.

Then she walked to the porcelain cup and muttered, "Portus."

"Come here, Mr. Fowl."

Artemis was mulling over what he was going to do when he heard the soft voice of Marriet.

"Sir, hold this cup for about 5 seconds, then you will jerk, and will go to the place you wanted to. Ready, sir?"

Artemis knew he could trust Marriet. "How will I ever thank you"

"Go, sir, now!"

Artemis clutched at the cup. He felt a jerk around his navel and the world began to spin, then his feet hit ground.

**Ottery St Catchpole, The Burrow, 42 minutes before**

Mrs. Weasley had returned home to see Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy and Ginny seated around the table. Fred and George were busy at their shop in Diagon Alley.

"How was work today, dear?" he asked tired Mr. Weasley.

"Bad," he muttered, "Really bad. As usual, Mundungus Fletcher tried to sell his stolen Venomous Tentacula seeds to Perkins. Poor Perkins, thought it was green plant seeds and nearly bought them, had I not arrived on the scene and thrown out of the window, which was a big mistake, as it turned out…"

"What happened?"

"The seeds flew down to the Department of Mysteries, where they were experimenting with a red foul-smelling liquid, as they told me. The seeds landed in the liquid and" Mr. Weasley broke off with a shudder.

"What, dear?"

"There was one hell of an explosion, and I ran down to investigate. I walked down to findBode and the others drenched in the liquid. It was unlucky that they had the window open today, for they don't do it usually…for fear of secrets being stolen…"

"Oh, you poor thing, quite a lot of work today, eh?"

Then there was a loud BOOM outside and Mr. Weasley jumped a full metre from his chair.

Bill got up. "Must be Fred and George, gits…" He ran out.

Then they heard Bill shriek, "Noooooooooooooooo…..You-Know-Who! Get out of here! Now!"

Mrs. Weasley heard Bill. The next moment, Bill was blasted into the kitchen wall. He lay there, unmoving.

"RUN!" Mr. Weasley yelled, and they did as he said.

The last thing they heard was cold, high-pitched laughter, before all turned black.

**The Burrow, 1653 hours**

"Crack!"

The lot of them appeared, and their eyes adjusted to the uneven light. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"No, no, it can't be……"

Artemis suddenly appeared in front of them. Holly and Julius Root settled down to the ground. Then they saw what they thought they did not see.

"Who did this?" Ron muttered weakly.

Harry looked at the chaos too. It was bad.

The tall house had crashed to the ground, across the pig sty, where some pigs lay squealing. Even Draco looked sickened at it.

Ron ran over to the place he thought was the kitchen. Then he shouted, "Over here! Help me get Bill out!"

They ran over and heaved Bill out, who was in bad shape. There was a line of blood from his chin all the way down.

"Dammit, Bill, are you okay?"

Bill straightened up, then groaned in pain. "They got Mum, and Dad, and the others…"

"All of them?" Ron muttered, on the verge of tears.

Bill struggled to remember for a moment, then he yelled with victory. "Fred and George! He didn't get them!"

"What?" Ron's knees buckled with relief. At least he had not gotten all.

"Hermione, can you go to Number 93, Diagon Alley?"

In a crack, so to speak, she was gone. She was back in a few seconds.

Fred and George grimaced at the chaos. Then they said together, "We have to get the rest of them out of this mess."

So they began to search. Hermione, Artemis and Draco took the left half of the house, Harry, Fred and George took the right half. Holly and Julius Root surveyed from the air. Bill lay at the side recovering.

"I've found one!" Artemis voice cut through the silence.

The rest of them ran out to Artemis and heaved at the hand he had discovered. Finally the person was pulled out. Luckily he was breathing. It was Mr. Weasley.

"Fred! George! Ron! How are you? Are you fine, he didn't get you, did he-"

"Dad, calm down. Take a rest," Fred said soothingly.

They went back to their work, slowly progressing, and they found everyone except Percy.

"We've looked everywhere, we can't find Percy," Harry said breathlessly.

From the sky, Root zoomed in from his Optix helmet. Then he spotted a hand.

"Here!" he yelled. He landed exactly at the spot where the hand was.

They sped over to the place Root was, and heaved at the hand. Finally the body came out. It was Percy, his glasses askew, his face horribly disfigured. He was still alive, however.

They lifted him all the way to the other area where the Weasleys were recuperating. Mrs. Weasley looked at Percy and threw her hands over him and hugged him with relief. Percy was breathing heavily. He could not talk.

"Here," Mr. Weasley said, muttering, "Asthumus Percumerita!" Percy felt a little better, then he tried to talk.

"Mum….How do I look?"

Mrs. Weasley did not have the heart to tell him.

It was a disheveled group that Disapparated to Malfoy Manor. Artemis needed a Portkey, as usual. (Holly and Julius Root were seen to be grumbling, "We didn't make any progress in looking for Voldemort, just friends, what mission is this," and things like that.)

Harry looked terrible. He sensed it in the others too. The big problem was that they still had not located Dumbledore. Furthermore, 7 people would look pretty suspicious, and at the moment, no one had the energy to fight again.

"We have to take the next train from King's Cross." Harry grumbled.

Artemis rubbed beads of sweat from his forehead, while Malfoy was in the toilet. Hermione, Root and Holly sat on the chairs feeling very stupid and ashamed that they had gone too far astray form their mission.

Malfoy returned looking refreshed. "The next train is at about 8 p.m. Can we make it?"

Harry and the others consulted their watch simultaneously. "Hey, our watches show different times!"

Malfoy looked at his own golden watch, Cuprazzi-made. The watchmaker was well known in the wizard world for his magical clocks.

"The time is 7.45."

Harry sat up. "What the hell? We have 15 minutes?"

The next 10 minutes were a bit of a daze, as everyone rushed about the house, took important things, and gathered in Malfoy's room.

"Alright. 3,2,1…"

"GO!"

They Apparated while Artemis, Holly and Root used Portkeys. (Holly breathed heavily and was surprised that the wizards had been able to conceal their existence so long with such simple methods.)

They met at King's Cross with 3 minutes to spare. They saw the train at the station and got in quickly. It was time.


	13. The Meeting

Chapter 12 – The Meeting

The train lurched forward at a frightening pace. The 7 of them decided to make conversation. Harry started first.

"We need to decide how to interrogate Dumbledore. He is not a man to be messed with."

Root felt his face redden, not to mention that it was red most of the time. He was that kind of person.

Ron spoke up. "Yeah, but in the first place, do we have the proof that Dumbledore is a Squib? You just can't take Voldemort's word for it."

Harry knew this was true, but still, he had a sneaking suspicion that Voldemort may be right.

Holly buzzed up to the ceiling, checking her helmet. "We were _supposed _to be after Voldemort. What are we doing here now?"

Harry couldn't help a smile. "If Voldemort's story were false, slap me. If it were true, slap me too. Dumbledore is the only one who knows all about Voldemort. Believe me, we are going to the right place."

"That's not the point. We are straying away too much from our mission."

"That's true….but…"

Artemis stepped in. "What Holly says is right. We are straying away too much from the mission.

Malfoy snorted.

There was an implacable silence. For a few moments they could here the train's chugging continuously.

Finally, Hermione said, entering the room, "The driver says that we'll be at Hogwarts in another 3 hours. What's the time?"

Artemis whipped out a Cartier chronograph from his pocket, stifling a yawn. "3 a.m."

"3 a.m? We'd better get some sleep."

As if right on cue, the whole group fell asleep.

Harry had a weird dream. He wondered whether it was a dream in the first place, or whether he was remembering something that his grandmother had told his dad. He remembered Lily Potter cradling him near the fireplace. He was just 3 months old.

"Mother, I saved him! Wally was about to die!" cried James exasperatedly.

"I know, Jim…..just remember this."

He remembered his mother laying him down on his cot and walking to his father. They whispered quietly. "Listen, Mother, Voldemort is after us, and you know it. We have to get trusty people to help us. The bond that is created between wizards who save other fellow wizards is therefore very important to us."

"Yes, yes, but there is another message."

James leaned in.

"_Just remember, every man or woman you save is someone's son, or someone's mother. If you save them, you save me_."

There was a swirling of memories which Harry could not remember, all he remembered was that now he was in a crematorium.

James Potter was weeping softly with Lily Potter having her hand on his shoulder. There were seven words as an epitaph. "Dearest Mother. Much loved. Gone too soon."

_If only,_ thought James bitterly,_ if only I had saved you. Then things would have been much different._

Harry woke up to see that everyone was looking at him. "What's the problem?"

All of them were grinning from ear to ear.

"I haven't seen you do that in a while, Harry," Ron muttered.

"What did I do?" asked Harry heatedly.

"You were sleeping. Smiling."

Harry tried to hide a grin, but teeth forced their way out.

"I had a dream. It involved my mother and father."

The effect was instantaneous. "What happened" began Ron, but Malfoy cut in. "Was it the grandmother dying dream?"

Harry was surprised. "Yeah."

Ron and Hermione began simultaneously, "So did I! How did that hap"

"Woah, down, guys….now tell me what happened," said Artemis. Holly looked strangely at him. This was so un-Artemis. The stone-cold Artemis would probably have said, "Will you all shut your infernal mouths so that I can hear myself think!"

Holly blinked. That was so un-Artemis too. Something was very wrong with her.

That was very Root.

Harry's voice cut through Holly Short's thoughts. "How did this happen? "

Ron took a deep breath. "It seems impossible, but Dad told me about something like this."

Everyone leaned in to listen.

"For millennia, wizards have had this bond. It runs through every one of them. However, it is intensified in Hogwarts students for the students who are picked are basically having blood bonds with Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin."

"These bonds enable to create connections when everyone is thinking about the same thought. In this case, Harry's dead parents."

"At this time, hidden memories are brought out too."

Malfoy spoke up. "Wait a minute. Since when was _I_ thinking about Potter's parents?"

"What were you thinking about then?"

"I was thinking about the night where You-Know-Who lost all his powers."

Ron had a smile playing across his lips. "And who caused You-Know-Who to lose his powers?"

"Potter, of course."

"And who was sacrificed?"

"His parents."

"So, that's it."

The train began to rumble and decelerate. Finally, it came to a stop.

"We're here."

They got off slowly. Hogsmeade station looked like a ghost town at this time of the morning. Usually there would be people pottering about, thought Harry.

Pottering about. Harry chuckled softly and walked towards the looming castle, with his friends.

They knocked thrice on the Great Hall's doors. Immediately the door opened and Minerva McGonagall, the headmistress, with her hair in a tight bun, appeared. She seemed a little skeptical about letting the 17-year olds in. Fortunately and unfortunately, Holly and Root were shielded again.

Holly and Root marveled at the sheer size of the giant castle. Holly decided to have a conversation with Foaly. She opened a channel.

(**_Author's Note: Seeing as fairy technology is much more advanced than the human kind, the magical world, which probably had not heard of cameras, did not have any effect on the LEP helmets. In fact, quality was improved by the enchantments.)_**

"Foaly?"

There were several moments of silence, then a voice crackled. It sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard.

"Is that Holly? This is Foaly."

"Don't play me for a fool, that's not you."

"Wait a minute." There were several tappings of a keyboard in the background, then Foaly's voice came through the speakers again.

"Better?"

"Yeah, much better. Do you mind if I shot some video and sent it to you? It might be invaluable."

"Go on."

She started the camera, and caught an image of several wizards frozen on the wall, and of an angel with two eyes where there were supposed to be ears, and vice-versa.

Later, however, even if she did not know it, the information was about to save their life.

Mulch Diggums was walking on Haven's Frond Road. He was careful not to stray too close to the magnastrip, in case the strip burnt him, and hell, there was one sight the world, sorry, the _under_world, was not ready to see.

He stood outside the Operations Booth and waited for Foaly to let him in. Foaly did.

"Foaly?" enquired Mulch.

Several _chump chumps _came from the corner, followed by several _ceerach._ It sounded like Foaly was eating something.

"Foaly?"

"Yeah, yeah, over here," came the centaur's grunt.

Mulch shuffled over to him.

"Hey, look at this. Holly shot some video at this place. Looks kinda like those eerie mansions in my Mud Movies."

"Yeah, I saw one of those. What was the name again?"

"_The Haunted Mansion?_"

"Yep, that's the one."

Foaly clip-clopped over to Mulch after he blew up the video to 500 percent. Mulch was fascinated.

"What a fortune I could make from this place."

Foaly tutted.

"Did you see that statue?"

"Which one?"

Foaly rewound it.

"That one."

Mulch surveyed the statue. Yes, he had seen it.

"Yep, that I have seen. I remember something like that at the Louvre in Paris. Remember that awful incident?"

"Nightmare. You blew out all the windows."

"All the windows? I nearly shattered the pyramid outside, remember?"

"Yeah, if it hadn't been for the holograms, we would be in deep mud now, if you'd pardon the pun."

"So, Mulch, what is that statue?"

Mulch looked at it.

"Actually, it seems like a fake. Or it might be the original. It's called _The Enlightening Angel._ It's supposed to depict the natural mess-up within humans."

"The artist himself messed up."

"Actually, there was no artist."

"You're kidding."

"Yeah. It was sent to the Louvre anonymously."

"But what the hell is it doing here?"

Mulch puddled his thoughts. "My guess is that this is the original. It has to be."

"How?" asked Foaly annoyingly.

Resisting the urge to pummel Foaly into the plasma screen, Mulch spoke slowly and clearly, as if teaching a 2 year old the alphabet. "Look at the setting. It's so intricate, it could not have possibly been the fake."

"The one at the Louvre?"

Mulch pondered. "That one is exactly the same. My guess is that the anonymous artist made two of these."

"Would you like to know where this place is?"

Mulch thought for a while, thinking that he could make a fortune if he broke in. Acting interested, he said, "Sure, tell me, where?"

Foaly took a very deep breath. "It's a wizard school, called _Hogwash_, or something."

Mulch tried to stifle a laugh, but it burst out of him. "_Hogwash?_ Good one, Foaly. How can a school be named _Hogwash? _"

"Wait a sec……..wrong name. It's _Hogwarts._"

This time Mulch really giggled and couldn't stop laughing for 3 minutes. When he did, he said, "_Hogwarts?_ Is that supposed to mean a hog's wart? The guy who named this school must have been really desperate, eh? Naming it a hog's wart."

Foaly laughed too. "Mulch, you have a weird sense of humour."

"Thank you." Mulch bent to his knees, and left the Operations Booth.


	14. Dumbledore's Secret

Chapter 13 – The Meeting ( Part 2 )

Harry nervously walked to the stone gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office. He tapped on the gargoyle uncertainly.

"_Ciao, bambino,_" muttered the gargoyle uncertainly before opening its eyes to be taken aback. There was a whole lot of wizards suddenly wanting to speak to Dumbledore.

The gargoyle stirred. Had he accidentally revealed anything during sleep?

Harry wasn't stupid enough not to take notice that the gargoyle felt uncomfortable, probably that the Italian it spoke before had something to do with the password. Immediately he asked, "What's the password?"

The defiant gargoyle refused to tell him.

"Very well," muttered Harry before he turned around to speak to his comrades. "What do you make of _"Ciao, bambino?"_ ?

Again the gargoyle felt sweat rolling down his back. (Stones don't sweat, so obviously he imagined it.)

This time Artemis, master of puzzles, made a fact clear. "That has something to do with the password."

Harry felt his eyes roll.

"What could it be?"

"Probably an anagram? Maybe _On bam biao ci?_" suggested Hermione.

Artemis had read enough Dan Brown books to know that this was one of the possible but impossible ideas.

"Something to do with a baby," said Holly.

"Yeah……what could it be?"

Harry's mind stirred. "Did you say a _baby?_"

"Yeah, _bambino_ means baby in Italian."

"Then probably it has something to do with me."

Harry looked the gargoyle in the eye, and said, "Harry Potter."

It didn't move.

Malfoy spat.

"Maybe Dumbledore isn't that stupid after all."

They got in without much incident, except the embarrassment that _Ciao, bambino_ was the password actually. Dumbledore looked at the unlikely crowd as the newcomers introduced each other, including the fairies.

Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, was very interested in the fairies. "So, young adventures, what do you seek the knight for?"

"Professor, we need a truth out of you, sir."

Harry then repeated and told Professor Dumbledore the complete purpose of his visit. After that, Dumbledore was quiet for several moments.

"I never expected Tom to be so straightforward about this. He was a clever boy, yes, but…..much too big for his boots, if you get what I mean."

"So…it is true?"

Dumbledore looked at each person in turn. "I have kept a big secret from you for very long. I am going to tell you all about this, only if I have your word that you will not spread it around like mud."

They all promised.

Then he began to speak. "Tom was right. I was a Squib."

Harry flew back from his chair. He could not believe this. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the great wizard, was a Squib?

"Please let me explain. Yes, I was born a Squib, with hardly any magical talent. I couldn't eve stand a cauldron the right side up." He said this with contempt and bitterness.

"My father was a great follower of Dark Magic. Just that night, I can still remember…."

He prodded his head with his wand, then dipped it in the Penseive. "Here, the memory will make it clearer."

They stuck their hands into the liquid spiraling, and soon they were thrown in.

_It was raining that night. I wondered why Father called me up here? To test something on me?_

_I was freezing cold as I marched up to my father's usual hideout._

The seven of them followed a 10 year old Dumbledore up to his father's hideout.

"_Father? Did you call me?"_

Sedgewick Dumbledore looked up. _Yes, Albus, can you believe it? I can give animals magic too!_

_I thought about the chilling prospect._

_Then suddenly, there was a big splash._

_Damn and blast, cursed my father. There was soon another. Some of the liquid landed on me._

_Albus, he cried. The liquid was starting to burn, but at the same time I felt an odd sensation, as if strength had been forced into my bones._

As the travelers watched the tragedy unfold, they were shocked. It was nothing like they had seen before.

_I felt the odd sensation and I felt strong and looking at my father, I wondered what wonderful liquid that he had created._

"_Albus! What have I done!" cried Sedgewick as he rushed to help his son._

Our heroes stood transfixed, as the drama unfolded.

_I had not realized it, but I had magic. I was no more a Squib and I was going to make waves!_

The chamber swirled…and they appeared back in the room.

"Do you know the truth now?" Dumbledore questioned slowly.

They realized something.

They had made a terrible mistake.

Dumbledore heaved a sigh of relief. It wasn't easy to stop these inquisitive 17- year olds. Indeed, he hadn't told them the truth. But to tell them what happened……..

_Sedgewick Dumbledore looked at Albus with spite. "You caused me all my humiliation. I detest you."_

_I looked away with shame. I had let my father down. I had displayed no magical skills._

_Sedgewick looked like a man about to squash a bug, he had Albus in the right place. "Lucky for you, I have an antidote."_

_Albus looked up, hardly daring to believe it._

" _I have the perfect antidote. It will restore your magic to you. Are you ready?"_

"_Eveready, father."_

_Sedgewick gave him the potion. He drank it, and the effect sent him spiraling across the room._

_Sedgewick stumbled back. "What went wrong?"_

_Albus Dumbledore stood up. "You hated me. Now you will pay."_

Dumbledore looked at Fawkes. Looking so graceful, she was. He felt he should not have lied to them. Harry Potter will know it soon. One day, he will know. By then, he hoped it would not be too late.

Harry spoke slowly.

"Professor Dumbledore had this look in his eyes, I know that he was lying, sure, he might have been convincing, but he lied."

"Sure, and then is there _any_ reason he should lie to you?" Malfoy sniggered.

Harry didn't want to respond. There were just too many thoughts around his mind. Just then they came around the Enlightening Angel.

"It's nice." Ron muttered.


	15. Under Siege

Chapter 14 – Under Siege

"You know what its supposed to show you, right?" Holly asked.

"Er…." Ron tried.

"Have a guess…"

"Er…the natural mess-up in humans?"

"Got it!" she replied triumphantly. "It is a real masterpiece."

The sudden rumbling of the ground brought their attention to a tall figure standing a few meters away from then.

Dumbledore.

"Damn. Blast. Damn and Blast." Ron breathed.

"I'm sorry about this." Dumbledore waved his wand.

Suddenly , the whole world went blank.

The five of them woke up in a black room. It was really dark. The only thing that was glowing in the dark was Artemis's Cartier.

"Where are Holly and Root?" he inquired.

"Dammit, they got left behind!"

The sudden seriousness of the situation finally occurred to Harry. "Listen, I told you, Dumbledore _was_ lying!"

"Yeah, so what?"Malfoy told him insolently, although the truth was prevailant.

"Listen, we need to get out of here. Lumos." The tip of his wand lit.

"Good idea, "the others said, and lit their wands too. The light was enough to see the small room they were in.

"What's that thing at the end?" They inched closer to it, and saw it was the painting of the Enlightening Angel.

"Great. A puzzle. Just to round it off, eh?" Ron said, irritated.

"Are we supposed to re-arrange it in order?"

"Wait!" Harry replied. "Move the light down!"

They did that, and what they saw shocked them out of their guts.

"It's a bloody computer!" Harry and Hermione said together!

"Computer?" Ron and Malfoy inquired, baffled.

"Computer," said Artemis.

"Look at the screen. What's the program?" Artemis asked.

"Adobe Photoshop 7.0. My god, I sure hope this isn't in Hogwarts." Hermione replied.

"I've had experience with this program. It's pretty simple. The picture of the angel has to be re-arranged."

"I don't believe that. There must be some catch."

Sure enough, a message appeared.

"D'Arvit," Artemis said. Around him, no one had no idea what he actually said, not him too.

This was what appeared.

**Blaster Worm **

**This virus has infected your computer. In another 60 seconds, the computer will be restarted. All programs will be frozen 10 seconds before. **

**Courtesy of the Blasters **

If there was one person for speed, Artemis was it. He sped through his controls, using the mouse, he quickly changed the picture. But then he realized, there was no button to accept it!

"Damn. IT has to be PERFECT."

Then he spotted the button below. ACCEPT.

He quickly pressed it.

Nothing happened.

"The Blaster began. DAMN!" Artemis cursed.

Luckily the computer restarted quickly, and the program loaded.

"Time for another go."

Slowly, he cut out the different face parts, exactly, precisely.

Then he joined then together. They did not match.

"Blasted thing, again?" Artemis said. "Where did I go wrong"

**Time: 40 seconds left**

"I forgot! Magic Wand!" Artemis yelled.

Magic Wand was a function in Photoshop where the particular part can be chosen. Photoshop had this ability to distinguish a lot of different things.

**Time : 30 seconds left **

"Let me do it, now!" He quickly chose all the parts and assembled them together.

**Time: 13 seconds**

"**ACCEPT! ACCEPT!" **He screamed like a maniac.

It accepted.

Holly and Root hovered safely and away from the time capsule Dumbledore had generated. "He sure had guts," Holly muttered.

"I had to do it. Hogwarts isn't safe anymore. Voldemort knows." Dumbledore probed himself.

Root looked sadly at Holly. "We should have been in the capsule. Now we are stuck."

"Not exactly. Let me check with Foaly."

"Foaly?"

"Right, here, doll, except when you go down in smoke, I'm way back in Haven."

"Sure. Tell me this. That video I shot a little while ago? Did anyone make anything out of it?"

"Yeah, Mulch was here a couple of minutes ago. He said it was called the _Enlightening Angel, _or something. It was said to predict the natural mess-up in humans."

"Yeah, and that was the only one there, right?"

"No. The Louvre has one too."

Root stepped in. "This place doesn't have only one. Look around."

She did that. Then she noticed at every house table there were _4_ of those structures.

Then, the doors burst open.

"Oh gods," they said simultaneously.

_It accepted._ This registered in Artemis's mind.

"Yeah, way to go!" Harry slapped him a five on his back. Artemis turned around and gave Harry such an icy stare that even Harry cowered.

At that point, the ground suddenly turned upside down. They fell out.

They fell out into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Lucky us," Ron berated himself silently as he was wiping the soot off his clothes.

They had come through the chimney.

_**Death Eaters.**_

32 of them came in silently. The message was clear.

_Hogwarts was under attack._

In the office, Dumbledore sent Fawkes to call for help. To a few friends.

_**It was a silent call of distress.**_

Holly looked incredulously at Root. "Who the hell are they?"

"They don't look like anyone, and they sure look mean, no-more-Mr-Nice-Guy type of Mud Men."

They flitted in silently, and the atmosphere changed completely.

Slowly, the colors of the hall changed to grey and green.

"Salazar Slytherin, divine of all!"

They turned around so fast their necks cricked.

In the doorway stood Lord Voldemort.** Ready to begin.**

"This doesn't look good at all. Him again."

"No time to complain. Wish I had the wizard's help."

"Don't be stupid. We are in a castle full of wizards." They cut their words short when they heard Voldemort's speech.

"_Salazar Slytherin, divine of all!_

_You weren't responsible for the Dark Lord's fall,_

_It isn't exactly nice to see_

_Your most dedicated follower falling to he_

_Where was the protection of all Slytherins_

_Invisible at times, don't rinse your sins,_

_When it is time, it will be_

_Time to change some destiny_

_When will it be met, when will it try_

_Never to escape, never to die_

_For Harry Potter, we shall see_

_Will soon be ashes, in the sea_

_Life's full of surprises, time never waits_

_O Salazar Slytherin, lower your baits_

_For many of my followers have left me_

_But never have I, ever left thee_

_Or me, did I ever deserve this creed?_

_To see, to think, to be and not to achieve."_

"It's time. We will fight. And we will make the world shudder!" roared Voldemort.

"Let's get out of here," muttered Root.

They had to. Their lives depended on it.


	16. The Beginning of the End

Chapter 15 – The Beginning of The End

Something flapped over Artemis's shoulder.

The next thing he heard, someone shouting "Fawkes!" and he spun around.

Harry was caressing a majestic bird slowly and he was really happy about it. Soon he was not.

"Why did Dumbledore send us out of there if there was going to be chaos?"

"Huh?" all of them asked, bewildered.

"The Death Eaters have taken control of Hogwarts. They are fighting, but not enough wizards there to control the 32 of them."

"32?"cried Ron. "What bloody help are we going to give them? It's useless!"

"We just have to get there."

"How?"

"No Appration, no Portkey, what to do?"

"Car." Piped up Artemis.

"Car?" asked all of them.

"Butler. Car. Get Butler to drive an enchanted car."

"Sure," said Ron, "like we did in our second year. Get real, Artemis, this is impossible."

"Where is Butler anyway?" asked Harry.

"In fact, he's still at the Burrow."

"WHAT?"

"Thank you very much for your help. I really appreciate it."

Saying this, Butler began to walk out of the house, when a _crack_ brought his attention back to the house.

"Butler! Don't go!"

"Here we go. It's Wingardium Leviosa. We need to do it now."

"On the count of three, one, two, three!" "_Wingardium Leviosa!"_

The Rolls-Royce floated up into the air. It was funny to see such a majestic car floating above the pavement.

"It's not going to work. You need someone to levitate it from below. Deactivate it. _Lumbardia."_

The car slowly went to the ground. "Try _Levitra._ It should work." Said Malfoy.

"_Levitra._" It worked.

"Let's get to business. Time to go. The war has begun." Harry spoke these last words as the car revved away.

Hogwarts castle was in utter chaos. Spells floating astray, injured wizards and Death Eaters were lying everywhere.

McGonagall and Snape were teaming up against Lucius and McNair. It was a close fight.

"Expelliarmous!" The spell blasted Snape off his back.

"Impedimenta!" yelled Professor McGonagall. It was supposed to work, but it bounced off the mirror and spiraled back to Minerva McGonagall, who ducked. Then the doors banged open for the second time.

The boys were back.

Harry and his gang stormed into the Great Hall. All the Death Eaters tried to close in on them, but to no avail. He blasted them off with a powerful curse. "That wasn't so tough, was it?"

They came in lines, with their wands raised.

"That wasn't so tough, was it?" Holly muttered, her Neutrino level to full, as she called Retrieval for backup.

She pumped a couple of blasts into the approaching Lucius Malfoy and McNair, who were incidentally attacking a helpless McGonagall. Snape got up slowly, unable to know which force had conjured this blue stream of light.

"We have to unshield! NOW!" Root and Holly did so immediately.

The silence followed.

"Who are they?" queried Voldemort, utterly shocked.

"Who are they?" asked Dumbledore, equally baffled.

"We are the fairies from Haven belowground," Holly said, fully knowing it sounded stupid. "We mean no harm."

"They're with us," said Harry for the first time.

Dumbledore spun.

"Why did you come back?" he pleaded.

"Your bird called us back. It felt we were the most reliable people. And to you all there," he gestured to the Death Eaters, "The wizards are headed here very quickly. So watch it or beat it." He sounded very much macho.

Voldemort's slits were getting even smaller. If one could burn holes through their eyes, he was surely destroying Harry.

"Potter, Potter, Potter, we aren't here to fight."

Both Harry and Holly raised their eyebrows.

"We are here to destroy."

With that, he turned to the platform.

"_Oh Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!_

_Did not one of your partners disagree with you?_

_Who disagrees with the greatest?_

_Whoever does does not live to tell the tale."_

A great rumbling shattered the silence in the castle. Something big had just happened.

Without warning, Professor Flitwick ran for his life out of Gryffindor tower.

Two words were enough for the impact.

"It collapsed."

"_Oh Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!_

_They say the raven is always cunning._

_Was your raven cunning, oh great one?_

_They ought to be shot."_

The rumbling happened again. This time everyone knew what it was.

Ravenclaw Tower had just collapsed.

"_Oh Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!_

_Was it difficult to decide to leave?_

_Did the last object or accept?_

_She accepted, did she not?_

_She got what she got."_

This time, there was no rumbling. Instead, something spectacular happened.


	17. Final Farewell

Chapter 16 – The End

A voice boomed out from above.

"_You dare to ridicule the unity of the Hogwarts Four?"_

Voldemort could not believe his ears.

"_How dare you try to destroy it. They have always been unified. None of them had problems with each other. The only reason Slytherin left the school was because of one reason."_

"_Slytherin had a big problem mingling with people. I should not be telling you this, but he hated to mingle with other types of people who were very different from him. Unable to take the shame and embarrassment, Slytherin left."_

"_But he told me, do not tell this to the world. Fabricate a story for yourself. Explain it at the right time, and now is the right time."_

Slowly, a figure came into view.

It was the Sorting Hat.

"_Evil forces in the world,_

_Should always be rid of_

_For the world is impure_

_When these impurities are mixed_

_The time has come for the decision_

_For annihilation of the forces_

_Where good should always prevail_

_And bad should be erased."_

At that exact moment, a scream rang out from all the Death Eaters and Voldemort. Their flesh was melting.

"_Goodbye, evil forces."_

They were gone forever.

Holly and Root found themselves feeling sorry to leave the wizarding community. It was a good time they had.

"WE vow never to mention the wizarding committee to the rest of the world," they promised.

"Ditto," replied a surprised Dumbledore. "It was a pleasure meeting you. We shall coexist together."

There was no necessity for any mindwipes either. There was only one thing to do at the time.

The Retrieval team proved useless, as always. They were fuming to have been called on a false alarm.

It was time to say goodbye.

Foaly was searching Harry's brain for possible spikes. Then he came across something.  
"Commander, you had better have a look at this."

"What is it?" Root was glowing even redder than a Gameboy Power light. "What is it about Harry?"

"Look. He likes this man. Sirius Black. But he's dead."  
"So what?"

"Look here Commander, we're supposed to be helping Harry for all the help he as given us. I have a good feeling…."  
"Don't tell me you're going to fiddle with his memories and make a type of movie or something."  
"You hit the nail on the dwarf's head."  
"What?"  
"Oh, nothing. Just my little joke. I just said that you were bang on target, I am going to take all his memories on Sirius Black, make a copy of them, and give him…er…on a DVD."  
"Those stuff are ancient here."  
"That's why I'm giving it to him, Commander."

Root thought about it.  
"Ok, Foaly, make the disc now."

The whirring of Foaly's machine was prevailant and the job was done.

"Now, Commander Julius Root, let's plant it somewhere, shall we?"

Julius Root was eyeing the golden disc. "Yeah Foaly, let's."

For once, he agreed with Foaly. Good thing,too.

Harry returned to Privet Drive feeling thoroughly depressed. Once again, he had to wait till September 1 till he could get to school. He steeled himself for torture.

Just as he was about to ring the doorbell of the Dursley's miserable house, the postman came up. "I have a package for Harry Potter," he proclaimed.

Harry took it. It was rather light, and circular. He slipped it out to reveal a DVD or a Digital Video Disc. He was taken aback.

He walked into the house, and Uncle Vernon , as usual, snarled at him. But this time, he shouted "Immobulus!" and everything stopped in the house.

He moved to the DVD player the Dursleys had and slotted in the DVD, saying "Finite" in the process. The DVD whirred pneumatically in the machine. Then the video started playing.

"Foaly, you stupid fool." But he felt the tears welling up in his eyes and swore that that was the best moment in his life.

Then a bang sounded downstairs, and seeing as Uncle Vernon was frozen, there was no sound from his fat mouth. The next moment, Artemis came tumbling into the room. Tumbling was a bit of a misnomer. He fell at Harry's feet. Just like the first time when Harry fell at Artemis's feet.

"Wha"Harry began, but Artemis cut him.  
"Come with me now. We are going to Fowl Manor. Permanently."  
"But-but-what about them?"

Harry pointed to the unmoving Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley.

Artemis was unperturbed. "Let them go to hell, in layman's terms. They completely screwed up your life, eh?" The recent events had brought about a change in Artemis.

No longer was he civil boy, now he was a punk.

The next moment, with Harry's trunk, the Bentley was crunching into Hybarring Avenue. As Harry looked at the DVD and Artemis, he said,"Good bye, and never will I come back to you all again," meaning the Dursleys.He now had a new life.

It was as though Sirius Black was alive again.


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue

Life, Harry told himself, refuses to lie alone. It refuses to curl up in a corner. You need to get on with it. Get a grip, Potter, he told himself. You're already 34. It is time to make a difference in someone's life. Whose will it be?

Artemis Fowl was the perfect person to make a difference to. Even more, Illaria was going to have a child. He wondered if he could ask Artemis something.

"Artemis?" Harry asked.

"Yes. What is it?" Artemis lifted his head off _The Economic Times._

"I was just wondering…."

"Don't ask. I know it already."

He knew it too.

"It's a girl!" the nurse cried.

"Yeah!" Artemis pumped his fist in the air. Harry grinned hugely.

They walked in. "Illaria," he began, "I want to name Harry godfather to our child."

Harry got the shock of his life. _Godfather?_

"What will be his name?"

"Oh I don't know," Ilaria replied bluntly. "What about Sirius?"

Again, a bomb fell in Harry's stomach. Artemis could see that Harry was completely bewildered.

"Don't bother with the charade, Illaria," he said. They both burst out laughing. It was all pre-planned.

So, Harry Potter, whose godfather was Sirius Black, became godfather to Sirius Fowl.

_Life refuses to be subdued,_ he told himself. _I am not going to waste it._


End file.
